Daughter of Dark Magic and New Fights
by Gabriel Tannin
Summary: In the wake of Voldemort's public return and Sirius' murder, Cadence is left in disarray. Carrigan has been missing for 2 months, without the slightest clue to her whereabouts. Cadence is at a loss as Voldemort grows ever stronger and is forced to face new challenges and new fights as she desperately looks for her daughter. 8th installment of DODM series Rating may change in future
1. New Nightmare

_The nightmare is always the same. No longer am I being tortured by my father, Lord Voldemort, but I watch helplessly as he tortures my daughter, Carrigan. Her beautiful brown curls fall in front of her teenage face and her midnight blue eyes look up at me with pleading tension. _

_ Save me, they beg. Save me, mom!_

_ But I can't. I can't move. I can only stand in a corner as Voldemort lifts his wand and jabs it towards Carrigan, who's small body succumbs to the spell he's shouted. She screams and cries out, collapsing and withering as her body shakes and squirms. _

_ I cry out in protest and try to advance, but it's no use. I am defenseless in my nightmares._

_When I wake, there will be tears on my eyes and pain in my heart. I'll roll over and stare at the blank wall of the bedroom, afraid to go asleep again, but unable to get up because the day doesn't provide much hope._

_ She is gone and I have yet to find her. She only exist in my dreams, my nightmares…my memories. I don't know how to find her and I am so afraid that I never will again._

_ The thought brings more tears to my eyes. So, I lay in bed and cry until the sun shines into the bedroom. A new day has come and it is time to get up, face the world, and search for Carrigan._


	2. Job Offer

The blade slammed in my shoulder, causing me to scream and fall backwards. My body hit the wooden floor of the kitchen harshly, causing pain to seep into my joints and bones. I laid motionless for a moment to regain my composure and my breath. When I was ready, within a minute of being hit, I yanked the dagger out of my shoulder with my free hand. I jumped up feet first, spotted the Death Eater that threw the dagger at me, and aimed straight for his throat. The dagger flew from my hand with precise flick and sailed across the room where it slammed into the attacker's jugular. The Death Eater made a terrible squealing sound as hot red blood poured from his throat. He groped at the dagger for a moment, while he lost his footing and fell to the ground.

He twitched awkwardly on the floor of the kitchen for a few moments before he finally died. I stood over him, staring sadly at the body on the floor. I crossed my arms over my chest and kicked the body gently with the tip of my boot. The Death Eater did not react to my nudge.

"Well," I sighed, brushing my hair over my shoulder. "This is a set back."

I bent over and pulled the knife from the Death Eater's throat. As I stared down at his young facial features; he had to be younger then me in his earlier twenties, with smooth blond hair like liquid gold, pale skin and emerald eyes. His eyes were staring up at me in terrified shock, as if he had not anticipated dying this way. I hadn't anticipated it either. Obviously, I should haven't aimed the dagger at his neck…that was my mistake…

I wiped the bloody blade on my pants to clean it, then I slipped it into the holster on my thigh. I stood up straight and looked around the Death Eater's kitchen. It was a well kept place for a man who followed the Dark Lord. I turned on my heel and moved back towards the counters, where I had fallen after the dagger hit my shoulder, and began to dig through the drawers, hoping to find something that would help me track down the Death Eaters kidnapping victims. As I moved from drawer to drawer, yanking them open and finding nothing but dining and cooking utensils, I tracked my footprints through the small pool of blood that was on the kitchen floor. It was my blood, from the hit on my shoulder, which was aching painfully. I held my shoulder with my good hand as I looked in the last drawer, which was full of spices and cooking ingredients. I slammed the drawer shut viciously and looked back at the dead Death Eater.

Before I could move, to head deeper into the house to find another room to ran-sack, the sound of the front door opening reached my ears. My stomach clenched as I grabbed my wand quickly from my boot and backed out of the kitchen, into the dinning room. I hid just inside the threshold of the dinning room, peaking around the corner with cautious eyes, and waited for whoever had arrive to make themselves seen.

To my surprise, Kingsley Shacklebolt appeared in the kitchen, looking around in distress. He stopped in front of the Death Eater's body and leaned over, touching his neck to feel if he were alive.

"Kingsley!" I said with a mild expression as I stepped forward.

He turned sharply, his blue cloak spiraling around him as he turned to face me, his wand extended in my direction. I raised my hands slowly in surrender. Kingsley took in my bloody appearance and frowned deeply as he glared at me. His dark brown eyes had an edge of anger in them, which I may have deserved.

"Cadence!" he said surprised. He kept his wand on me. "Who was the other Auror in Dumbledore's office the night he left Hogwarts?"

I frowned slightly as I racked my brain for the answer. "Uh…Dawlish, wasn't it?"

Kingsley nodded and dropped his wand to his side. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"I just wanted to talk to Scotts, there," I motioned to the dead Death Eater.

"And he ended up dead!?" Kingsley shouted in his deep voice. I could see that he was clearly frustrated with me.

"Well, that was accidental," I shrugged. "It was self defense."

"Cadence, you killed a man!"

"He wasn't a man," I replied sharply. "He was a monster! He is the Death Eater responsible for most of the kidnappings in the last two months—"

"You don't work for the Ministry! It's not your concern how many people he's kidnapped! It's not the Order's job to bring Death Eaters in now. How am I supposed to explain this to my superiors?"

"That's not my problem," I said with an angry tone. "He was a bad person. I stopped him from hurting other people, it would be nice if someone thanked me once in awhile."

"It's not your job to kill people!" Kingsley yelled. "I should take you in. I should arrest you for killing someone—"

"What?" Cadence stammered. "You have no evidence I killed him."

Kingsley gave me a sharp look with high eyebrows that said 'really?' I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms tightly over my chest. I made to push past him, but Kingsley grabbed my arm and stopped me from leaving. I looked up at him with a wild glare that would have frightened most men.

"You need to get a hold of yourself," he said sternly. "Killing every Death Eater in sight won't bring them back, Cadence."

I pulled my arm out of his grasp. "I will let you know if I find anything that relates to Scotts," I said soundly. Without another word, I stomped out of the house, heading out onto the quiet street of downtown London, where the Death Eater's flat had been.

It was late on a July evening. The summer heat had taken the city, leaving people desperate for air-conditioning and iced tea. The heat had never seemed to affect me. I walked down the street in my jeans and long cloak over a tank top with no worries about the temperature.

I didn't go home right away. Mostly, because I didn't feel like I had much of a home to go to. Gabriel and I had moved out of Number Twelve when it was discovered that Kreacher had betrayed it to Sirius' cousin Narcissa Malfoy. Everything for the Order had been relocated, not to one place, but multiple. There was no longer an official headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. Meetings were held all across the country, with safe-houses in place to try and hide people from Death Eaters who were slowly taking over and corrupting every form of organization is the wizarding world.

Gabriel had found an old farmhouse for us very close to where the Weasley's lived. There was only a field separating our homes from the other. From the highest window of the Burrow, you could see our farmhouse to the east. Gabriel had spent a month rebuilding the house so that it could accommodate a secret training-basement, an escape tunnel out of the house that lead to the barn on the other side of the property, and a secret fire-place that was connected to the Floo Network. In many ways, it was the house that Gabriel said he would build for me with his own hands, which was a very romantic notion, but I could careless. Personally, I didn't care for the house much. But that had more to do with the fact that Carrigan was gone. Nowhere felt like home without her smiling face and lively attitude.

I walked around London for what seemed like hours, taking in the innocent Muggles as they went about their lives, nearly oblivious to the fact that the world was under attack. Our way of life was threatened, and if the wizarding world didn't stop Voldemort, then the Muggles world would come crashing down around them as well—as it had already began to. Muggles didn't realize, of course, that the bridge collapsing, the random building fires, the train crash, and the countless murders were because of dark magic. They didn't know that Death Eaters were out destroying their world in support of a man who hated them; a man they didn't even know existed.

When dusk had fallen, I realized I should go home. I was tired and still injured. The blood from my shoulder wound had dried, but it still hurt like hell. I needed Gabriel to look at it when I arrived home.

It had taken me all day to find Scotts and corner him at his house. I was hoping that he would be able to reveal some information about Carrigan—where Bellatrix LeStrange and Voldemort had taken her—since he was responsible for nearly ten kidnappings in Voldemort's name, I hoped maybe there was some connection. It was a slim chance to begin with, which is probably why I felt indifferent to killing him.

The farmhouse was well light when I Apparated in front of it. I stood on the gravel path that lead to the porch, looking up at the red and white painted house, with frank discomfort in my stomach. Kingsley had no doubt gone to Gabriel, begging him to get a hold on me, and I was not looking forward to the argument that would ensue when I entered the house. According to the Ministry, I was getting in the way of many of their investigations—according to me, I was doing their job for them because they couldn't catch anything or anyone.

I sucked in a long breath before making my way up the gravel and the steps of the porch. I hesitated at the front door, before grabbing the door knob and entering the house. Inside, all seemed calm. The lights were on in the front sitting room and the stairwell that led to the top floor. From the foyer, I could see that the lights of the kitchen were on in the back of the house. I pulled my cloak off slowly, unable to move my left shoulder very much because of the puncture wound. I groaned as I pulled the sleeve of the cloak down my shoulder and arm. Blood stained the cloak, my skin and the white tank top I was wearing. I'm sure I looked like quite a fright walking down the streets of London bloodied and banged-up.

"Gabriel!" I called as I threw the cloak on the banister of the stairs. I leaned against the wall as I unzipped my boots and flung them on the doormat where other pairs of shoes resided. "Gabriel!"

He emerged from the back of the house, from the kitchen, holding his wand tightly in his hand. He was handsome as ever. The last two months of stress and new war had taken a toll on his physical appearance. His head and face were completely shaved clean, to hide the fact that he was greyer then ever, but there were age wrinkles around his entrancing purple eyes that gave him away. He was still tall, muscular and tattooed beyond all belief. His charming smile, when he smiled, was half-cocked and made me weak in the knees. He aged well…

"Bloody hell, Cadence," he sighed when he took one look at me. He came forward, grabbing my side and ushering me forward. As my body pressed against his side, I felt his hard washboard abs under the white tank and long-sleeve flannel shirt he was wearing.

"It's not as bad as it looks," I insisted as we entered the kitchen, which smelled of grilled chicken and spicy potatoes. My stomach gurgled with hunger, but I ignored it.

Benjamin Snow was standing at the stove, cooking the food that smelled delicious. He turned to look at Gabriel and I as Gabriel pulled a chair from the table out for me. He was a young man who was of age and had taken a position at the Ministry in the Auror program. He had let his brown hair grow out in the last few months, and now it was so long that he had to tie it back in a ponytail. His crystal blue eyes stared at me with an intense, worrying, expression.

"What was our son to be named?"

"Caspian," I replied soundly as Gabriel knelt down in front of me to look at my shoulder more carefully.

"Ben, could you get me a bowl of hot water?"

Ben didn't answer, but moved from the stove to the cabinet to get a bowl out. He filled it with water and as he walked to the table, pointed his wand at it. His wand tip glowed red and then the water began to boil. I frowned as he placed it on the table. Gabriel conjured a clothe and set it in the water.

"Take off your shirt," he ordered.

"I can't move my shoulder," I replied.

Gabriel stood up again and lifted my injured arm carefully, causing me to groan loudly with discomfort. His expression didn't change as I cried out. Gabriel had seen me in many different levels of pain, and this was by far not the worse. He helped me wiggle out of my tank top, then threw it uselessly on the floor.

Benjamin returned to the stove and continued to cook dinner, keeping his back to me. I didn't care what he saw. He probably cared and felt more uncomfortable then I did.

Gabriel returned to his knees in front of me and took the wet clothe from the bowl. He began to wash the dried blood off my skin, and cleaned the wound. I grimaced every time he touched the open stab wound with his hot rag. I avoided eye contact with him; at first he was staring straight at my wound, but once it was cleaned he looked up at me.

"What were you doing?"

"Do you really have to ask?" I said as I looked at him with dark serious eyes. Gabriel frowned and pressed the wet clothe against my wound again, making me cringe.

"For once, you are blocking me," Gabriel responded.

"Funny, I can read you," I said as I leaned forward with an aggressive tone. "Kingsley was here, you spoke to him."

"He wasn't here about you," Gabriel said. "It just came up in the conversation because you're interfering with my investigation—"

"I was not interfering," I interrupted.

"Killing the prime suspect in my investigation is most certainly inferring, Cadence!" Gabriel snapped as he picked his wand up from the table. "Hold, still."

He pressed the tip of his wand against the wound on my shoulder. I cried out and flinched as the magic necessary to repair my broken vessels and skin tore through my injury. I still didn't know what was worse—the pain inflicted from the injury itself, or the pain of repairing and healing the injury. When he was done, Gabriel pulled his wand back and looked at my shoulder.

"It's left a scar," he said as he looked up at me.

I shrugged. "What's another scar?"

I was covered in scars—physically and emotionally—most notably, on my forearm was a long thin white scar where my father had sliced my arm to perform a blood bond that made him stronger; I cauterized the wound myself, which left it badly scarred. On my stomach was a scar, about an inch in length, from where Ondrea Cane, Gabriel's Death Eater ex-girlfriend and partner, had stabbed me while I was pregnant with Carrigan. There was a thin scar on my right shoulder, where she had also stabbed me. Now, I had a scar on my left shoulder to match.

"Look, now I have one that matches," I motioned to the scar on my right shoulder and smiled.

"You're an idiot," Gabriel said standing up and moving away from me. He picked up the bowl of boiling water and took it to the sink, where he washed it out. With a snap of his fingers the clothe soaked in water and my blood disappeared from the kitchen.

I stood up from the chair and walked out of the kitchen without another word. I was surprised that he said nothing else, but also relieved. Maybe he was finally starting to let me be. He had to stop holding me back; I had to find Carrigan anyway I knew how. I wasn't going to stop just because the Ministry was investigating Death Eaters. Carrigan had to come first.

In my room, I leaned back against the bedroom door and took in a slow sigh. My body was still running on adrenaline despite it being hours since I had fought with Scotts. My system seemed to always be running on adrenaline. I didn't sleep often and if I did, I only had nightmares about Carrigan being tortured while I was unable to save her. I spent hours training in the basement that Gabriel had built during the day; I trained on my own and with Benjamin a great deal. I had to be physically fit if I wanted to hunt down Death Eaters and find my daughter. After training I would retreat into my study to go through all of the clues I had found concerning Death Eaters and my father; then in the evenings, I went looking for more clues and people that could lead me to find out where Voldemort would be hiding my daughter and what he wanted with her.

The room around me was dark, which I liked. Gabriel had a tendency of leaving all of the lights on in the house now a days. I wasn't really sure what that was about. I ventured into my dark, well furnished, bedroom and found my way to the closet that was over-flowing with clothing.

After the fire in January that destroyed all my personal belongings, Gabriel and I had nothing left. When we moved out of Number Twelve and took up residency in the farm-house, Gabriel seemed to think that showering me with conjured gifts would bring me back to reality. Perhaps he hoped it would make the pain and fury of loss leave me…but it did nothing. The only thing that would satisfy and cure my depression was revenge…and the return of my daughter.

I was only upstairs for about fifteen minutes, when I heard Gabriel yelling for me downstairs. I ignored his yells and continued to change my clothes. I pulled on a pair of yoga pants and a tank top as if no one was calling for me. I grabbed a see-through black sweater off one of the shelves in the closet and pulled it over my head. Using my fingers as a brush, I stroked my hair, then tousled it out of my face.

My brown curls fell in messy-crazed waves. When I moved out of the closet and in front of the long standing mirror in the corner of the room, I instantly noticed strands of white mixed in with my brunette curls. I frowned as I inspected the white hairs more carefully. They were coming in behind my ears.

_Please come downstairs,_ Gabriel's voice rang in my ears, causing me to jump. He had mentally channeled me with Advanced Legilimency. _Scrimgeour is here to see you._

"Shit," I muttered as I closed my eyes tightly. I must have really pissed Kingsley off if he went to the new Minister of Magic, the previous head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and my ex boss.

I frowned again as I looked at my sullen appearance in the mirror. I looked thin, almost sickly, but strong and muscular. I brushed my hair one last time with my hands and then turned to make my way from the room.

Downstairs, Gabriel and Scrimgeour were sitting in the front room off the foyer, waiting for me. Scrimgeour stood up when he saw me descend the staircase. I paused in the foyer and crossed my arms over my chest.

"I'll go get some tea," Gabriel said roughly as he stood up. He looked me over as he passed by me in the foyer. He paused for a moment, leaned in close to me and kissed my forehead as he squeezed my elbow affectionately. He didn't say a word, just stood up straight and moved past me.

I accepted the sentiment but did not respond to it. I watched him as he moved away from me, down the hall towards the kitchen. I uncrossed my arms and moved forward into the sitting room.

"Hello, Cadence," Scrimgeour said very gentle from his seat on the small red couch in the room. He was wearing a black suit with matching cloak over it and a black briefcase sat on the floor next to his feet. I forced a smile at the lion-like man. It had been nearly nine months since I had last seen him, on the day that I was fired from the Ministry for conspiracy against the Minister of Magic.

"Hi," I said softly. "What can I do for you?"

"First, I want to offer you my deepest condolences," he said seriously as I took a seat in a black leather arm chair across from him. "I know that none of this has been easy for you."

I laughed lightly and rubbed my temple. "No," I said mildly. "It hasn't been."

"I promise you we will do everything in our power to find her—"

"Sir," I interrupted. "Please spare me the company line. I worked for the Ministry, I know where cases like Carrigan's fall on your list of priorities. I'm not interested in anything you have to say or offer. I'm only interested in finding my daughter. And I will do anything I have to, to get her back. Not even you will be able to stop me."

"You mistake my intentions, Cadence," Scrimgeour said in his rough tone with a frank smile at me. "I have always admire your spirit and work-ethic. I am not here to stop you from looking for your daughter. Shacklebolt did inform me that you are inferring with many of his cases, but I don't see a problem with how the job gets done, as long as it does." He paused for a moment, in case I had a retort or statement, but I didn't. I was caught off guard with his honesty. "On that note, I _would _like to offer you a job."

"_Excuse me?"_

Scrimgeour laughed, which was not something he did often, and shook his head, shaking the main of grey and white hair he had around as well. I inched forward on my chair.

"Let me be clear," I said when he didn't say anything. "You want me to come work for you, when most of the Ministry thinks me off my rocker, violent and intolerable?"

"Fortunately, my opinion of you is really the only one that matters when it comes to selecting Aurors," Scrimgeour said. "Given your background, your past experience at the Ministry and your down-right talent, I think it's completely reasonable for you to be reinstated. _I want you to be reinstated_. I never wanted you to be fired. You belong at the Ministry, Cadence, helping the department stop Voldemort. We need you."

"I'm sorry, Sir, I'm going to have to decline your offer," I said without thinking it over. I didn't need to think about it. The answer was no. "You said yourself you don't care how the job gets done, just that it does. Well, I can act without sanction right now—"

"Until you interfere too much with a Ministry case, you leave evidence behind and you're caught and tried for murder," Scrimgeour said sharply as he pulled a file out of his briefcase that was leaning against the couch. He opened it and threw it on the coffee table in front of me. "It doesn't matter who you kill, Cadence. As the council sees it, murder is murder unless you're Ministry sanctioned. The fact that you killed a Death Eater means very little to them."

I leaned forward and picked up the folder. It was a stack of six or seven photos. I was surprised that they were pictures of Scotts' kitchen—where I had killed him. The last picture in the stack was of the blood pool on the kitchen floor from where I had fallen when he stabbed me in the shoulder. The blood pool was disrupted by my boot print.

I dropped the folder back on the table and glared up at Scrimgeour. "You're black mailing me?"

"No," he shook his head. "It's just a method of persuasion. Cadence," he said my name sternly as he leaned forward on the couch. "You need to be doing something other then searching for your daughter. You need something to keep you busy—"

"Finding Carrigan keeps me busy."

"But so busy that you're not efficient, productive or even careful anymore," Scrimgeour motioned to the pictures on the table. "You should return to the Ministry. It's the best place for you. It will provide you with the resources necessary to find your daughter."

He stood up as he finished speaking and picked up his briefcase. "I will leave those pictures with you. Do with them as you wish. I expect to hear from you within the week."

I sighed deeply as he left the sitting room and exited the house through the front door. I sat back in the chair and slumped with bad posture. I didn't like his points, but part of me knew he was right. I was becoming reckless. I looked up as Gabriel came back in the room.

"Tea is done," he said. "Scrimgeour left already?"

"Yes," I whispered. Gabriel remained where he was standing in the threshold of the sitting room. "You're right, I've been an idiot."

"What made you realize that?"

I lifted the picture of my boot print up from the table. "I'm becoming reckless as Scrimgeour was so kind to point out."

"I've been telling you that for two months now," Gabriel said soundly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "How did he get through to you so easily?"

I glared at Gabriel fury and stood up from my chair. I left the front room without a word until I passed him. "If you'll excuse me, I need to get some sleep. I have to go to work in the morning," I snapped as I headed up the stairs.


	3. More Than Once

Sweat was rolling down my skin as I gasped for breath in the basement. I was standing in a far corner of the room, with my hands on my hips as I stared out at Benjamin, who wasn't breathing hard at all. I felt so out of shape every time I trained with him. He was standing tall, just as sweaty as me, in his gym shorts, but looked calm and collected. He reminded me so much of Gabriel, it was frightening.

"Remember, I'm fifteen years younger then you," Benjamin smiled. "Give or take," he added when I looked at him sharply. I laughed lightly and shook my head.

"Why are you letting your hair grow out?"

"Really? You want to talk about my appearance?"

"Well, I don't want to talk about how much older I am then you," I said sharply.

"I need to change something," Benjamin said honestly after a silence. "My hair is something I can control. I can't control other things…"

I nodded understanding that he was referring to losing Carrigan. He had no control over that.

"I still don't understand why I can't find her," he said after another silence.

"I think that takes time," I replied. "You and Carrigan have a difficult relationship. She is a rebellious and disobedient student, and when you started dating Madison, it affected your relationship a great deal. It's hard to find someone when you're not very close to them."

Benjamin grimaced deeply. "Madison and I aren't together anymore. And Carrigan is…"

He stopped and looked up at me quickly. His crystal blue eyes revealed everything to me, without him saying a word. I bit my bottom lip and nodded my head. "I think it's a curse," I whispered. "You will always love her…as Gabriel will always love me."

"If I love her, why can't I find her?" he asked with frustration. "She could be anywhere—" he waved his arm, tattooed with the alchemist symbol for Saturn, out around him wildly. "She could be dead…"

"No," I said quickly as I stepped towards him. "No, Benjamin. You would know if she were dead. We both would."

Benjamin looked at me with sad eyes. "I'll never forgive myself if we don't find her, Cadence," he said sternly. "I'll never forgive myself for not being better to her."

I smiled slightly and patted his cheek with comfort. "You'll have your chance. Carrigan is a strong young woman. She comes from a bloodline of fighters and survivors. She's not going to roll over and take anything, no matter what Voldemort puts her through. She will come home to us, or we will find her."

Benjamin nodded his head in understanding. "I have to get to work," he said sadly. "I'll see you later."

I didn't say anything else as he moved to the basement stairs and left quietly. I frowned and looked around the empty basement as thoughts of Benjamin and Carrigan, together in the future danced in my head. I frowned with a grim expression. A few months ago, I had been told by a foreseeing centaur that Carrigan would have a child that I was meant to protect. Firenze warning confirmed the prophecy Persephone revealed to me years ago, that I was meant to protect a very magically and powerful child. I bit my bottom lip; if Gabriel and I weren't supposed to be together because of how destructive our child could be, I could only imagine how powerful and frightening Carrigan's could be, especially if Benjamin was the father of the child.

"Cadence?"

I turned with mild surprise as Gabriel descended into the basement. He looked around with a reminiscing smile on his face. I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Yea?"

"What were you thinking about?"

"Carrigan," I replied easily. Gabriel nodded as he looked at me. He took in my appearance—sweaty, dirty and dressed only in a sport top and shorts. "Persephone predicted I would protect a child in the future, a powerful child that would not have a Guardian. A few months ago, Firenze, the centaur who took up the Divination position at Hogwarts, told me that I the child I was meant to protect is Carrigan's."

Gabriel frowned as he approached me. "You hope that means she is alive and will come back."

I nodded as I looked up at him with pained eyes. He was close to me, his hands touched my bare hips as if to comfort me. He brushed my hair behind my ear as his pale green eyes stared back at me.

"Talk to me," he whispered gently. "We haven't really talked since it happened…I can't help if you don't let me."

I frowned and turned away from him, over-come with the emotions that he was pulling out of me. He was right. We hadn't really talked since that night in May when Sirius had died and Carrigan was kidnapped. He had tried to comfort me at first, then as I became more involved in searching for Carrigan (and ignoring everything else that was going on in our lives) he tried to lecture me, to pull me back to reality and stop me from acting recklessly. I still stood by everything I did. I didn't think I was being reckless. I was being aggressive; if that was what was necessary to find Carrigan, to stop my father, then fine. That's what was I was going to do. I didn't want there to be a third war—I was going to finish this and if that meant burning down the entire city in an attempt to destroy Voldemort and find my daughter, then fine. That's what I was going to do.

"I don't think there is really anything to talk about," I shrugged as I stared at the wall and not Gabriel. I felt him grow closer to me. He touched my bare shoulders gently, with just his fingertips at first, then his entire palms. He squeezed my shoulders as a reassuring sign of affection, but it did little to comfort or encourage me. "She is gone and I'm going to find her. That's all there is to it."

"I've seen you act like this once before," Gabriel whispered in my ear. "And despite everything you say, everything you tell yourself, I know you. You know I do. I know you're in pieces, Cadence. The only thing you can do right now to hold yourself together is to fight for her, to act reckless just like you did when you and Sirius broke up. I understand that, but please, you need to be careful."

I didn't say anything as my hand held his on my shoulder. I rested back against him and took in his words. He kissed my forehead and engulfed me in his arms, holding me tightly against his hard body. He was right. He was always right. I felt young and stupid again in his arms. Gabriel had a way of taking me back to when we were both younger…when we were more passionate and lost because we were hiding our feelings from each other.

"We will find her, Cadence," he whispered. "We'll find her together. I don't want to lose you too…"

"I'm sorry," I said as tears entered my eyes because he had finally broken me down. He had finally broken through all my walls and I was going to let him in. "I'm just scared and angry. Everything I have been afraid of since she was born is happening and I don't know how to handle it…and Sirius dying like that…the only way I can get up in the morning is to shut down…to be indifferent to everything else…to only care about finding her. It's the only way I can function. I don't know if I can go back to the Ministry. I don't think I can focus on anything else."

"I know," he said as he kissed my head. "I know you're scared. I am too. But obsessing isn't going to help…"

"If it was Jennifer," I whispered as he held me tightly. "What would you do? When it was me who was kidnapped, what did you do? You've been through this more then once…what did you do?"

Gabriel didn't answer right away. I knew why he didn't. He was going to say that he would spend all of his time looking for Jennifer, and that he did spend all of his time looking for me. How could life just go on when such an important part of it was missing? That was my point. I couldn't just pick up and keep going without her—yes, I would keep going, but I was going to keep going so that I could find her. I wasn't going to stop looking, go to work and focus on other things. No, the only responsibility I had was to my daughter. She was my number one priority. It didn't matter what anyone told me—Gabriel, Kingsley, Benjamin, Scrimgeour or even Dumbledore. Carrigan came first; the rest of the world and the war against my father could go to hell.

"Just remember I lost her too," Gabriel whispered in my ear before kissing it. I turned to him in his arms and looked up at his soft, pale green eyes with pleading dark emerald ones. "I don't want to loose you too because you're running around the country half-cocked with a death wish. You're not alone in this, Cadence. I am here for you as your husband and Guardian."

I forced a smile at him and nodded in understand. "I wonder if this is something I have to do on my own," I said very slowly. Gabriel seemed surprised by the notion, but nodded his head.

"I have to get to the office," he said as he looked me over again. "I do think you should consider taking Scrimgeour's offer, just because it will give you more resources." He pulled me into his arms again and kissed me passionately on the lips. There was desperation and passion in his kiss. I kissed him in return, wrapping my arms around his broad shoulders as I stood on my toes. As we shared our love for each other, I realized that he wasn't afraid of losing me to death, he was afraid that what had happened would end our marriage…that somehow we wouldn't survive Carrigan's kidnapping.

His fear was justified. It had been two months since she had been taken and I hadn't talked to him about it. I hadn't shared my fear. I hadn't sought his comfort. We hadn't made love…

I kissed him quickly, urgently as guilt washed over me. I had no intention of losing Gabriel to anything. I had lost too much already. I kissed him in return in hopes to reassure him that I was not going anywhere. I was not going to leave him. He was the one constant thing in my life and I did need that. He may not have realized how much he helped me over the last two months because I didn't talk to him, but he kept me grounded.

I pulled away, leaving my hands on his cheeks and my body against his, then spoke. "I'm sorry that I have not been here for you in all of this."

He smiled at me as he stroked my hair back. "We're both here now," he replied. "That's what matters. I love you, Cadence."

"I love you, Gabriel."

He smiled and stole another kiss from my lips before he released me completely from his arms. A chill took my body when he let go of me. I frowned slightly and watched as he left the basement, bidding me good-bye one last time before he completely disappeared from sight.

When I was alone, I sat down on the sandy floor of the basement with my legs folded beneath me. With my hands resting on my knees, I closed my eyes and concentrated all of my energy on Carrigan. Part of my daily routine was to try and connect with her via her telepathic powers. Carrigan and I had always shared a rare bond that allowed us to communicate mentally. In the past, when Carrigan was in danger she was able to call for me with her mental powers. I would hear her calling in my head, like I heard Gabriel when he used Advanced Legilimency to communicate with me. But for the last two months, Carrigan had not called and I had yet to reach her when I meditated.

Benjamin had asked a good question earlier when we were training. Why couldn't he find her if she was his student? He had found her two years ago simply because he was drawn to her, why wasn't he drawn to her now in her time of need? But why had it taken Gabriel long to find me when I was the victim of Voldemort's kidnapping plots?

It just took time, I finally concluded.

My meditation was interrupted by the sharp ringing tone of the doorbell. My eyes fluttered open with surprise. I was not expecting visitors. I didn't move right away to answer it, and grumbled as I stood up from the basement floor. I dusted off my butt as I dashed up the stairs, heading into the back laundry room. I closed the basement door behind me. When the brown door snapped shut, it disappeared into the red painted wall. Gabriel had enchanted the door so that it could only be found by those who lived in the house.

I moved through the laundry room towards the kitchen. As I made my way down the hall towards the foyer of the house, the doorbell rang again, annoying me somewhat.

"I'm here!" I called as I reached the door. I gripped my wand tightly in my right hand as I opened the door and looked, with true surprise, out at Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter. They were the last two people I was expecting to see on my doorstep; and I certainly did not expect either of them to ring my doorbell more than once.


	4. The Chosen One

"Hi, Cadence," Harry said slowly once I had allowed Dumbledore and him entrance into my foyer. I gave him a weak smile and pulled him into a tight hug. He returned the gesture, but with half of a heart. I stepped back and looked him squarely in the face. He didn't make eye contact with me. I tipped his chin up and gave him a serious smile.

"Hi," I said softly.

He smiled at me and looked away again. I had a good idea what he was feeling.

"Cadence, this is a very charming home," Dumbledore said warmly. He always seemed to have a happy-attitude about him, no matter how terrifying the situation of the war.

"Thank you," I said. "Gabriel takes great pride in it, which is interesting because there was a time that he didn't care where we lived."

"He takes pride that this is where his family should be," Dumbledore said with insight into the masculine mind of Gabriel.

"Well, Albus, Gabriel has never been much of a family man," I said. "Come into the kitchen, I'll make you some tea."

"Thank you very much," Dumbledore replied.

"What brings you two out here?"

"I arrived at the Burrow last night," Harry said.

"When Harry said he wanted to come see you, I offered to chaperon him here because I wanted to speak to you about Sirius' estate," Dumbledore said.

"You want to talk to me about it because Sirius left everything to Harry," I said, still with a touchy tone. That was something I had not quite gotten over in the last few weeks. I understood that Sirius didn't know Carrigan' even existed until three years ago, but I felt it was a little unfair. Gabriel had pointed out that Harry was left with nothing but his parents' money, while Carrigan still had us.

"You can have it," Harry said quickly. "Anybody can have his stuff. I don't want it."

I frowned deeply as I put the pot of water on the stove. I turned to face Dumbledore and Harry who had taken seats at the kitchen table.

"Oh no, Harry," I said. "I didn't mean that I thought you shouldn't have it. If Sirius wanted you to have it you should keep it. All of it."

"He hated Number Twelve, why would I want to hold onto some place and something he hated?"

"Because it's the place where we all have the last few memories of him when he was happy. Cherish that place, as terrible as it is, because it's the last place you saw him smile."

"He smiled as he died," Harry said bitterly.

I bit my bottom lip with discomfort at Harry's words. With a frown, I looked back to the stove where the water was starting to boil. As I pulled down some mugs from the top shelf in the right cabinet, I wondered how angry Harry was with Sirius dying? He obviously had some resentment towards Sirius, otherwise he wouldn't be so bitter about how he died. Perhaps Harry thought Sirius wanted to die?

The thought had crossed my mind a few weeks after he had died, but when I thought about it all, Sirius didn't want to die. He would have rather lived to be with Carrigan and Harry. Sirius may had wished it before he went to the Ministry that night in May, but everything that had happened that night—the fight, Voldemort's public return—they would have brought a whole new thrill to Sirius' life. He wouldn't have lived in hiding any longer; the Ministry would have to recognize his innocence. He would have been a citizen again and able to fight side by side with the rest of us. Sirius would have been happy again if Bellatrix LeStrange hadn't killed him, sending him through that veil between worlds.

"Cadence?" Dumbledore's voice brought me back to reality.

"What?" I said standing up straight. The tea kettle was whistling loudly behind me. Dumbledore motioned to the stove. I turned quickly and turned the heat off before grabbing the kettle. I brought the kettle and three cups over to the table, where I sat down with Harry and Dumbledore across from me.

"Anything else you wished to discuss, Albus?" I asked as I poured him a mug of tea.

"I hear you were offered a job," he said with a small grin.

"Doesn't mean I'm taking it," I said quickly.

"What job?" Harry asked.

"The Minister offered me a position as an Auror," I replied. Harry frowned and nodded his head.

"Even though they fired you for conspiring against the past Minister?"

"Beauty of a new administration," I said with a sarcastic smile.

"I think you should take the job, Cadence," Dumbledore said very seriously.

I laughed lightly. "You too? Everyone seems to think that I should take the job so I stop obsessing over Carrigan's kidnapping—"

"Obsessing will not bring her home."

"Obsessing about work won't bring her home either," I said sharply. "She won't come home if I don't look for her. I haven't had a connection to her or my father in months. Carrigan has always been able to call for me when she was in need and she hasn't called yet. Voldemort must be feeling _something_ now, and yet, I have not felt anything from him. Benjamin should be able to find her, but he hasn't been able to. Something is desperately wrong and I will not rest until she is home."

"Why should Benjamin be able to find her?" Harry questioned quickly before Dumbledore could say anything. Dumbledore frowned slightly as he looked at Harry. He looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"Harry," I said very slowly. "Carrigan and I both have Guardians, mythical beings that are meant to guide powerful witches and wizards. Gabriel is my Guardian. Benjamin is Carrigan's Guardian."

Harry didn't seemed surprised, but he spoke very slowly. "How can you trust that he is her Guardian?"

"I trust Carrigan," I said solemnly. "She would know best…"

"You don't think he had anything to do with her kidnapping?"

"No," I replied instantly. "I saw Voldemort and Bellatrix LeStrange take her."

The room fell silent. I'm sure there was more that Harry wanted to say. He never seemed to care for or trust Benjamin. But, with the firmness of my comment, he let the topic go.

"I'm afraid I must head out," Dumbledore said carefully as he looked at Harry. "Cadence, I trust you'll be able to see Harry to the Burrow?"

"Of course," I replied with a nod. Dumbledore had made a cup of tea in front of him, but he had not touched it. He stood up from the table with a somber smile and bowed his head.

"Thank you for the tea," he said softly. "I will show myself out. Harry," Dumbledore turned his blue-eyed focus to Harry, who looked up with unsure emerald eyes. But Dumbledore said nothing else. He bowed his head, without another word turned on his heel, and exited the kitchen in a swirl of maroon cloak.

The kitchen fell silent after Dumbledore left. His exit seemed abrupt to me. Perhaps his only true intention was to see Harry arrived safely at my home; he didn't discuss Sirius' will too much and he managed to put his two cents in about my standing job offer from the Minister.

Harry was sitting back in his chair, his right hand extended forward on the table to hold the handle of his tea cup, but he was not drinking it. He looked uncomfortable, as if he didn't want to come see me but Dumbledore or Molly Weasley had made him.

"If you want to go back to the Burrow now, I can take you," I said softly.

"No," he shook his head. "I don't want to be there either right now," he added with a shameful expression in his eyes. I leaned forward to rest my elbows on the table.

"Tell me," I whispered.

Harry gave me a weak smile from across the table. It reminded me of his mother. She had given me a similar expression so many times in the last few days I saw her before she went into hiding. She didn't want to go. She didn't want to run and leave the rest of the world behind…and she was often unsure of her decision to do so.

"I'm feeling too many things to tell anyone how I feel," he replied. "And that's all anyone wants to know—how do I feel? I don't know how I feel."

I nodded in understanding because I felt the same.

"Sirius is dead," he said bitterly. "Carrigan is gone. Voldemort's return is public, the war has started and I'm too young too help. And the prophecy says that 'one cannot live while the other survives.' How am I supposed to feel about all that?"

"No one can tell you how you should feel, Harry," I replied calmly even though his comment about the prophecy had caught me off guard. "You should feel whatever and however you want to—no one can tell you how you should or shouldn't feel. You just have to keep going, keep doing the best you can. That's all we can do."

Harry didn't say anything as he leaned forward to take a sip of his tea. His eyes wandered around the kitchen of the farmhouse as he drank, while I sat quietly across from him.

"This place is really nice," he said. "It's really homey."

"I know," I said with a smile. "It kind of freaks me out how homey it is."

"Why?"

"Because," I whispered. "Home is where my family is, and my family isn't all here."

"Over Christmas holiday," Harry said slowly. "Maybe I can stay with you?"

"I would like that Harry," I replied instantly. "But we must always consider your safety when we send you anywhere now. Voldemort is after you—"

"He's after everyone."

"No," I said very slowly. "He'll kill anyone who gets in his way, but he _wants _to kill you. And you can be sure that whatever he is planning to do, it somehow has to do with you and how he can get to you."

"I'll be safe at Hogwarts," Harry said mostly to reassure himself.

"Doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful. Carrigan was with me and most of the Order when she was kidnapped."

Harry frowned deeply when Carrigan's name was mentioned again. A terrible sinking feeling entered the pit of my stomach when I saw his expression. Before I could say anything, he spoke.

"It's my fault," he said. "It's all my fault—Sirius dying and Carrigan being taken. It's my fault."

"No," I said quickly. "No, Harry those things are not your fault—"

"But if I had followed directions and closed my mind off to Voldemort he wouldn't have been able to use our connection and trick me into coming to the Ministry. If I had listened to Hermione or even Carrigan about it—"

"Harry," I said sternly. "You had a dream that someone you care about was in danger. You checked, to the best of your abilities, to see if he was in danger and when you had no evidence that he was safe you acted on your instincts as we all would have. Sirius death is not your fault. Sirius death is Bellatrix LeStrange's fault. Carrigan's kidnapping is not your fault. She was taken by Voldemort and Bellatrix. You are not responsible for their actions."

"If I hadn't gone to the Ministry," he insisted quickly. "They'd still be safe."

"You can't blame yourself for acting on instinct—"

"—MY INSTINCTS WERE WRONG!"

I frowned at his outbursts and sat back in my chair. He was angry, which was understandable, and red in the face. He pushed his circle-rimmed glasses back up the bridge of his nose and sighed with exacerbation.

"I'm sorry," he whispered with a frown. "But I was wrong. My instincts were wrong and now I don't know how to trust myself…"

"You can't doubt yourself, Harry," I said seriously. "And you have to stand by the decision you made. Some good did come out of what happened at the Ministry in May. Voldemort was forced out of hiding, you discovered the weapon that the Order had been trying to protect, what it means and why it was so important to protect. Sirius would have died to protect that prophecy just as he died protecting you and your friends. He would have wanted to die that way…"

"If I could go back I wouldn't do it again," he shook his head. "Not if I knew what I knew now."

"That doesn't mean that Sirius wouldn't have died and Carrigan wouldn't have been taken," I replied. "As I have learned, when something is meant to happen, it happens. Intervening with fate does not stop an individual's destiny."

"You really think that Sirius was meant to die in front of my eyes and Carrigan was meant to be kidnapped?"

"Yes," I said sadly. "Because seeing Sirius die will motivate you in a way that nothing else can. His death will motivate you to be the one who survives, like the prophecy says. Carrigan was meant to be kidnapped and I am meant to find her."

"Telling me that it was meant to happen doesn't make me feel better."

"Oh, of course not," I said instantly. "If anything, I imagine that it would make you angrier," Harry nodded in agreement. "And that's fine, Harry. Be angry at what happened, be sad, but don't fight fate and most certainly don't lose trust in yourself because of it. Sirius would not want you to do that. He would want you to go on and keep fighting."

"He would not want you to give up on Carrigan."

"I haven't," I said with a reassuring smile. "Although, it seems like everyone else has from time to time."

"Are you going to take the job at the Ministry?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I'm not crazy about spreading my attention. And they want me because of who I am, not what I can do for them. They want me at the Ministry because in their minds there are only two possible people who can stop Voldemort—me, because I'm his daughter, just as powerful as him and a betrayer to his blood; or you, because you've survived his killing curse and nearly destroyed him before. Out of the two of us, I think you're the more likely candidate. I've just burnt his house down around him where you have actually weakened him to the point of near death."

"Yes," Harry sighed bitterly. "I'm the Chosen One."

"Is that what you believe?"

"The prophecy surely makes it sound that way," Harry said quickly.

I nodded. "I agree."

Harry frowned. "Really? I was hoping that you would say _you're_ the chosen one."

We both laughed softly at his sarcastic comment. He looked a little more comfortable, but still edgy as he finished off his tea. He appeared to always be on alert, which was understandable; he had to be on alert now. He was the Chosen One. Evil, Death Eaters and Voldemort were always going to come after him now because Voldemort could not survive while Harry lived.


	5. Conditions

"_Dear Minister,_

_I am writing to inform you that I will accept your job offer, but with three conditions. Firstly, I will serve the Ministry in the capacity of a consulting Auror. I do not wish to have a full time position. Secondly, I will choose which cases I work on and I will use any means I see fit to pursue leads and offenders. Thirdly, I will work alone. I will not have a permanent partner. I will consult with anyone in the department who I am assisting with a case, but I will not be permanently assigned to another Auror._

_If you can respect these reasonable conditions, then I will happily accept your job offer. If not, then you will be kind to leave me to my peace. _

_ Thank you, _

_ Cadence Coleman"_

Gabriel lowered the letter from in front of his face and gave me an unreasonable expression. His dark blue eyes, which I knew would be a different color tomorrow, were wide with disbelief and mild disappointment. His handsome charming lips were curled in a disapproving frown. I smirked at him as I sat back in my desk chair. Gabriel let his hands hang by his sides for a moment before he crossed them over his chest and glared at me.

"What?" I questioned. "I don't want to be a full time Auror. I don't want to be tied down to commitments to the Ministry. I'm not interested in fulfilling anyone's agenda but my own. This way, I can help the Ministry as the Department sees fit while also using their resources to help find Carrigan. I thought you'd be happy…"

"If you're going back to work, I am most certainly happy," Gabriel said with a soft tone. "Your insubordination never ceases to amaze me."

I laughed. "You think it wouldn't by now," I smiled. "I'm surprised Scrimgeour gave you the letter."

"He took most of his anger out on me. He thinks you're out of line to make these requests."

"But he'll honor them," I replied still smiling. "Because he wants me back."

"You're good," Gabriel nodded. "But don't count on that to carry you with Scrimgeour. You know how he works."

"Yes, and he knows how I work. He knows that I'm bitter after what happened last year. I know he's not to blame, but the Ministry as an institution is. And I'm not crazy about going and aiding their agenda. I want to make sure I get something in return for my hard work and unwavering faith in the dear Ministry of Magic. I want to use it just like it's planning to use me."

Gabriel's lips spread into a smile. He dropped the letter on the floor as he uncrossed his arms and relaxed from his stern demeanor. He crossed the room to me in four long strides. Without warning he leaned over me, his hands holding the arms of my chair, and trapped me in the chair under his muscular body. He leaned down and kissed me passionately on the mouth. I was not expecting the deep lust that came oozing from his mouth into mine as we kissed; I could not help but return the sentiment. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders as I inhaled and plunged deeply into his sweet kisses.

After a few moments, he pulled back as he smiled down at me with all knowing, hot eyes and a crooked-charming smile. I bit my bottom lip as lust rushed through my entire body. Gabriel grabbed my hands and pulled me up from the chair straight into his arms. He embraced me close to his chest and kissed me slowly while his hands wandered up my shoulders and neck. His fingers tangled in my hair as his lips danced across my chin and jaw line.

"Gabriel," I said his name with a girlish giggle. "What has come over you?"

He leaned back to look me in the face as he spoke. "Your stubbornness and bluntness is something that I love. Seeing you act that way has always turned me on."

I laughed again and stood on my toes to kiss him romantically. He lifted my body up and allowed me to wrap my legs around his torso.

"I'm happy to see I still have that effect on you," I smirked as Gabriel's hot lips kissed my neck and collar bone while he held me. Without warning, he lightly tossed my body down on the leather couch of the study and laid down on top of me. He pressed his body against mine with tingling desire, which made heat rise in my core. I smiled as his hands pulled at the buttons of my pants and our lips pressed together full of love.

Gabriel sat back as I undid his pants and pulled off his black tee shirt to reveal his beautifully sculpted torso and upper body. My knees grew weak and insides turned with desire whenever I saw him half-naked. His toned arms were covered in sleeve tattoos, with multiple designs that overlapped and intertwined to make an outstanding piece of artwork on his flesh. There was hardly any hair on his chest or abs, his skin was smooth and tanned from the sun soaking his flesh every morning while he ran; there was a small tattoo on his left side, on his ribs that read 'rhythm.' The sight of the small printed word made my heart skip a beat.

I reached forward and touched his rolling six-pack abs. I traced my fingers down his abs, past his belly button, and paused to trace the lines of defined hipbones as they creased down to the center of his body. He put his hand on my side and pushed up my tank top as he laid down on me while kissing me slowly with his tongue invading my mouth—

A harsh knock on the study door destroyed the romantic moment we were sharing. Gabriel sat upright on the couch and looked towards the door. Before either of us could say a word, the door opened and Benjamin appeared in the frame. He frowned deeply as his eyes fell on Gabriel, half-naked with his pants unbuttoned, and me lying on the couch with my shirt and hair disheveled.

"Oh, sorry," he said as he pulled the door back and disappeared behind it. He didn't close it completely. "I am so sorry, guys."

"What is it Benjamin?" Gabriel asked with a touchy tone. He stood up off me and snatched his shirt up off the ground.

"Mrs. Weasley is in the fire," Benjamin's muffled voice said. "She is wondering when we're coming over for Harry's birthday? They're waiting for us to cut the cake."

"Shit," I said as I sat up. "I forgot!"

"Obviously…" Benjamin muttered.

"Tell her we'll be over in a moment!" Gabriel barked. Benjamin laughed and closed the door to the study. Gabriel turned to me and grabbed my hand. He pulled me off the couch and caught me in his arms. He smiled at me as he brushed my hair behind me ear. "I'm happy you're back."

"Back?" I questioned with raised eyebrows. "I never left…"

"You did," he said. "You left me and shut me out. I'm happy you're starting to let me in again."

He kissed me quickly and released me. "I'm going to change my clothes. I'll meet you downstairs."

He walked out of the study without another word. His comments made me feel awkward. I crossed my arms, puzzled by his comments, and thought through what he meant. Because I was being sexual, it meant that I was opening myself up to him again? A slow hot feeling rose in my lower torso and spread through my limbs. I bit my bottom lip as I thought about Gabriel's hot muscular body pressed against mine and his smooth sweet lips on my flesh. It didn't matter what Gabriel meant by his comments…about me being back to myself…the only thing I could think about was having sex with him. Is that what he missed? Me tripping over myself as I thought about his hands all over me?

I rolled my eyes, fixed my shirt as I exhaled loudly and headed for the door to the study. Gabriel was right; I was back because he hadn't been able to get a sexual rise out of me since May.

When I arrived at the foot of the stairs, I could hear Benjamin and Gabriel's voices traveling down the hallway from the kitchen. I stepped slowly, hoping that the floor wouldn't creak, and paused for a moment in the hallway to ease drop on their conversation.

"I'm just saying it's good to see that you and Cadence have a healthy sex—"

"—if you don't want me to beat the bloody shit out of you, you should stop talking," Gabriel snipped.

Benjamin laughed. "I could take you, old man."

There was some rustling of furniture and grunts. I lurched forward into the kitchen to see Benjamin holding Gabriel in a headlock.

"Hey!" I shouted. Gabriel swung his arm back behind Benjamin and shoved his elbow down straight into Benjamin's back. Benjamin groaned and pulled back, releasing Gabriel's head. Gabriel stood up straight, grabbed Benjamin's arm and flung him over onto his back. He kept a tight grip on Benjamin's arm and placed his boot on Benjamin's chest.

"Old man!?" Gabriel growled.

"Gabriel!" I snapped as I rushed forward to shove Gabriel off Benjamin.

Both men were laughing as I pushed Gabriel back against the counter causing a jar of candies to be knocked over. The multi-colored candies rolled across the marble counter top and onto the dark cherry wood panel floor.

"We're just messing around Cadence," Gabriel laughed as he wrapped his arms around me tightly. Benjamin was standing up when I looked over my shoulder, while Gabriel still held me close. "I would never hurt Ben…"

"If you found him half-naked on top of Carrigan like he just found us I bet you would," I said. All laughing stopped in the kitchen, which caused me to smile brightly as I looked between the two men in the kitchen.

"That's not funny," Gabriel said as he released me.

"Yea, that's not funny, Cadence," Benjamin shook his head as he gave me a cross look while Gabriel's back was turned. I beamed and patted Benjamin's shoulder affectionately.

"Get Harry's gift?" Gabriel turned back to me.

I smiled. "Yes," I snapped my fingers and a small package wrapped in brown paper with a white ribbon on it appeared in my hands.

"What is it?" Benjamin asked.

"You'll just have to wait and see."

Benjamin rolled his eyes and turned to the fire in the kitchen. He grabbed a fistful of Floo Powder and threw it into the orange flames, there was a small explosion and the flames burst green. Benjamin moved forward and stepped into the flames.

"The Burrow!" he shouted.

The green flames whirled up around him, engulfing his body and taking him from the grate.

"What is it?" Gabriel asked touching the package in my hands.

"Sirius' necklace. The one I gave him for Christmas that I made from the star Sirius," I whispered. "He wasn't wearing it at the Ministry. He had finally taken if off…he never took that damn thing off. He was finally not wearing the necklace…" I paused and looked away from Gabriel's piercing eyes. I looked down at the package in my hand. "I took it from Number Twelve because I thought it meant something…but I…" I looked up at Gabriel with a forced smile. "I just think it will mean more to Harry then it does to me."

Gabriel nodded and gave me a reassuring smile.

"Cadence," he said my name very gently. He brushed my messy chestnut brown curls behind my ears and leaned forward to kiss me. "It's okay that a part of you still loves him. He was the father of your child. I know you will always love him because of that. I do not love you any less because of that."

I bit my bottom lip and nodded my head. "Sometimes, I think I don't deserve you," I smiled.

Gabriel stood back and pinched my cheek playfully. "Well, lots of women have felt that way." He winked and took my hand. "Let's go."

My stomach flipped, like I was young again and madly in love. I realized as Gabriel threw the Floo Powder into the fireplace that I was madly in love and only Gabriel made me feel that way. Sirius never made me feel the way Gabriel did, despite how much I loved him, or at least tried to.

Gabriel extended his hand to me once he stepped into the green flames. I smiled and took his hand as I gripped Harry's birthday present in my other hand. Gabriel pulled me in tight and yelled, "The Burrow!"

When we stumbled out of the grate at the Burrow, I was not surprised to find the kitchen empty. Molly had warned me that quite a few people were coming to dinner to celebrate Harry's sixteenth birthday. I anticipated that they would be eating outside. Benjamin was already out the door when Gabriel and I arrived. Gabriel led the way outside and I followed quietly.

"Gabriel! Cadence! There you are," said Molly standing up from her seat at the long crooked wooden table that had been set up in the garden for the celebratory meal. All the Weasley children were filed around the table: Bill, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny (Charlie and Percy were the only two missing); they were accompanied by Hermione Granger, who looked prettier then the last time I had seen her with brown hazel eyes and light brown hair that was curly and messy, and Harry, who looked somewhat uncomfortable because he was the center of attention. His dark green eyes were calm and pleasant despite the discomfort on his face. He gave me a warm smile when he saw me approaching the crowded table.

Tonks, Remus, Mad-Eye and Fleur Delacour (who I had not seen in about two years) were also gathered around the table. Fleur was sitting close to Bill and leaning towards him. Their hands were resting under the table; I imagined holding the others.

"We were getting worried!" Molly said with a forced laugh.

"Just you were, Molly dear," said Arthur with a smile as he stood up to shake hands with Gabriel. Arthur looked thinner and more ragged then usual. Gabriel had told me that he had accepted a promotion at the Ministry and now worked more hours then was reasonable. But honestly, we all worked more hours then was reasonable now a days, even if we weren't working for the Ministry.

"Hello everyone," I said with a forced smile. I was afraid that someone would ask me how I was, or try to reassure me that everything was going to be okay. I had to pretend to be okay; despite how Gabriel made me feel just a few moments ago in the study, I was still numb inside. Carrigan's absence left me numb to the world.

"It's good to see you, Cadence," said Remus as he stood and pulled me into a hug. I embraced him half-heartedly in return. He pulled back to hold me at arms length and looked at me with a serious stare in his faded brown eyes. Remus looked more ragged then Arthur did. I wasn't entirely sure why, but I had my suspicions of what sort of work he was doing for the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore.

"I just am," I said before he could ask how I was doing. I gave him a weak smile and patted his cheek affectionately. "It's good to see you too. You should come over sometime."

"I will be sure to do that."

"Good," I said easily. "I miss you."

Once greetings were exchanged around the table, and I had kissed Harry's cheek while he remained in his seat and given him his gift, everyone settled down around the table as cake was passed around on small white plates. The rest of the evening's discussions revolved around the most recent kidnappings that had taken place around London. Ollivander's shop had been completely abandoned; it could only be assumed that he was dragged off by Death Eaters for reasons unknown. Igor Karkaroff's body was found in a shack in the north. Florean Fortescue, who ran the ice cream shop in Diagon Alley, had disappeared as well. Molly kept trying to change the topic, but every man around the table continued to speak of the disappearance and the children were eager to hear what was going on in the world outside of their shelter.

"Cadence?" Molly called for my attention. I peered across the table at her. I had been sitting quietly, listening to the men talk about what was going on in our world.

"Yes, Molly?"

"Would you be willing to accompany us to Diagon Alley when the children's letters arrive from Hogwarts?"

"Yes, of course," I said instantly with out thinking.

"Oh thank Merlin," Molly was relieved. "Arthur doesn't think he'll be able to come because of work…"

"Speaking of work," said Arthur turning his head. "Cadence, I hear that you are going to be joining the Ministry again?"

"Really?" I smiled. "My contract has not been signed yet. Unless my conditions are met I will not return."

"Your conditions will be met," Gabriel said with a roll of his eyes.

"Conditions?" Harry asked as he peered at me with serious dark green eyes. "I thought you weren't going to return because it would be a distraction."

"Hence the conditions," I smirked at him. "I told the Minister I will only work for the Ministry as a consultant. I will choose which cases I work on and I will not have a permanent partner. I'm not interested in being an Auror again."

"Then why return?" Fred asked with an air tone. "Why not continue to tell them to screw themselves?"

"Fred!" Molly scolded.

"They have resources that I need," I said simply. "I have a meeting with the Minister tomorrow morning Molly, otherwise I will be able to accompany you and the children to Diagon Alley."

"Alright, thank you Cadence," Molly bowed her head. "It's starting to get dark, I think it best that we begin cleaning up."

With that, everyone began to pick up the table and dishes from dinner and dessert. The table was cleaned and put away with in moments. Molly invited everyone in for coffee or tea, but Gabriel and I declined.

"We all have an early morning," Benjamin said with a smile as he thanked Molly for dinner. He exchanged good byes with the children who he had gone to school with last year and grown to know, then turned to me. "I'd like to walk home, if you don't mind."

"Alright," I nodded. "See you at the farm house."

He bowed his head and turned to leave. I watched as he walked down the garden path towards the gate and dirt road just beyond the Weasley's property.

"Cadence."

I turned to Harry, who was standing just behind me looking happy. He was holding Sirius' necklace in his hand and looking at me with smiling eyes.

"Thank you for the necklace," he said. "I know it was important to Sirius."

"He would have wanted you to have it," I said with a smile. I patted Harry's cheek with affection.

"Are you sure?"

"Even if he wanted me to have it, I would rather you have it to remember him by," I shrugged. "Having it just reminds me of a time when I failed him."

"Thank you," he said again. I kissed his forehead. "I'll see you when we go to Diagon Alley?"

"Yes, of course. I will see you."

"Good bye everyone!" Gabriel said with a wave. I pulled Harry into a quick hug before turning to follow Gabriel away down the garden path.

"Do you want to walk or Apparate?"

"I wouldn't mind walking," I said as I took his extended hand. "It's nice out."

Gabriel squeezed my hand as we passed through the garden gate and made our way down to the dirt road. We kicked up dry dust as we walked, hand in hand and in silence.

"It was like old times," Gabriel said softly. "It was nice to be together with everyone as if there was no war."

"When have we ever had 'old times' that weren't during a war?"

"When you lived in Maine, with Carrigan and I came to see you every weekend."

"We didn't have any friends back then," I replied. "This is completely different…"

"My point, Cadence, is that it was nice to be around friends and family and be happy, even if it was just for a moment."

I nodded slowly. I wasn't really happy. Every moment spent not looking for Carrigan was a moment wasted. Every day wasted brought her closer to her death. Voldemort couldn't have use for her for very long. She would never betray me or our side of the fight. She was powerful, but what powers did she possess that he didn't? And despite her powers, the fact still remained that she would not turn.

"What if he blackmails her?" Gabriel whispered.

I was surprised by his comment. I looked up at him with raised eyebrows. I thought I had been blocking him. I didn't think he would try to read my mind now.

"Despite what happened in the study today, you still don't talk to me," he said with apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry I try to read your mind so often, but I want to know what you're thinking…I want to know what you're afraid he may do."

I sighed deeply. "Well I wasn't sure what he may do until you said that. You're absolutely right. If he got his hands on any means to blackmail her or force her into something…"

"Remember that everything isn't black and white, Cadence," Gabriel said with a reassuring tone. "Just because Carrigan may be tricked or forced into doing some evil for your Father does not mean she is evil. She is anything but that."

"I know, you're right," I nodded. "But Gabriel, what else could he want with her? Why wouldn't he just have killed her? If his goal is to hurt me—"

"What if he's trying to distract you?"

We both stopped on the dirt path and stared at each other as darkness fell around us.

"Distract me from what?"

"Something that he knows you can stop," Gabriel shrugged allusively. "The sure way to keep you distracted from what he is up to is to keep Carrigan alive. He knows you will search for her."

"That seems like a long shot," I whispered and turned away to walk again.

"Yes it is…but it's just a thought."

"Everything is just a thought," I said with a touch of anger. "The fact is we don't know what he wants or what he is going to do. And that fact is the reason that we have to find her—and fast! It's already been over two months! We don't know how much time Carrigan has left."

"We'll find her, Cadence," Gabriel reassured me. "I think you working at the Ministry will actually help you. It will allow you to clear your head and find her."

I didn't respond because I disagreed with him, but that is why I requested those conditions so that I would not get too distracted and split my focus. Gabriel understood my silence as disagreement, but shrugged it off. We fell into silence and continued our walk home without another word.

The next morning I woke before Gabriel and Benjamin. I showered and dressed quickly in tight black jeans, a red tank top and loose fitting black chiffon blouse. Before leaving the bedroom, which was shaded in darkness because the blinds were pulled tightly shut, I picked up my black traveling cloak, my hip holster and thigh holster. I paused for a moment at the bedroom door and stared at Gabriel who was lying peacefully in the bed. I smiled before turning away and exiting the room.

Downstairs, I threw my cloak on the banister to the staircase and stopped in the foyer to strap on my holsters. I slipped my feet into comfortable black leather boots and then walked to the back of the house, through the kitchen, back sitting room, and into the laundry room. I pulled my wand from my back pocket and tapped its tip against a blank spot on the red wall of the room, between the Muggle washer and drier that I insisted Gabriel to get. There were two reasons that backed my insistence: firstly, I felt that putting on the appearance of Muggle home might lead Death Eaters to believe that Gabriel and I did not live in the farm house (in case they ever did find it). Secondly, my mother had used a Muggle washier and drier to clean my clothing when I was a child. The fabric softener she used smelled of lavender and reminded me of a time when I was innocent; when the world was not so dark and hope still existed. Every time I used the washer, I used the lavender fabric softener. It was a strange comfort to me, because it had never been one before.

A door appeared between the washer and drier after I tapped my wand against the wall three times while muttering complicated spells in Russian.

"_Открывать дверь, сломанных."_

Gabriel thought that requiring the spell to be said in a different language would help keep the training room more secretive. As it was our bunker in case Death Eaters attacked the house, we wanted to make sure that we were the only ones that could get into it. I did not know Gabriel spoke Italian, let alone Russian, until after we were married for almost a year.

A loud cracking sound, like wood breaking from wood, broke the calm silence that filled the house. The outline of a door formed on the red wall and then slowly cracked open. I pushed the door forward without hesitation and descended the stairs into the basement training room quickly.

On the far wall across from the staircase leading into the 'sand pit,' as Benjamin liked to call the basement, was a collection of different weapons that Gabriel and I had gathered over the years. I went to the wall and pulled off my two favorite blades. They were slim and curved slightly; they were ten-inch saux daggers with black hilts. I slipped one into the hip holster that rested just below my hips so that the dagger hung down the side of my right thigh. I slid the other into place on my left thigh. I stepped back and looked up at the wall with indecisiveness in my mind.

Did I want two small, four-inch knives, or one four-inch knife and Carrigan's gaudy six-inch dagger that Gabriel had gotten her for Christmas three years ago. As I stared at the dagger mounted on the wall, my mind was made up. I grabbed the six-inch dagger and held it in my hand as I studied the engraved hilt. Gabriel had Carrigan's name engraved on the hilt and encrusted it with a diamond at the end of it. I squeezed my hand around the hilt and snapped my fingers with my free hand. Another thigh holster appeared in my opened palm. I put Carrigan's dagger in my mouth, holding it between my teeth, and strapped the second thigh holster to my right leg. I slid Carrigan's dagger into it, then leaned forward and snatched two four-inch boot knives with stag grips off the wall. They fit perfectly in the side of my boots.

I moved quickly out of the basement, making sure that the hidden door closed tightly behind me, then moved through the laundry room and back to the front of the house. I picked up my cloak off the banister and pulled it on. I flipped my hair out of my face and Apparated out of the foyer of my farmhouse with a loud crack.

The atrium of the Ministry was just as quiet as the farmhouse had been before I left it. I purposely arrived early. As I walked through the green marble atrium, passed the fountain with the many magical creatures reaching and staring up at a wizard with his wand extended high in the air, I glanced at the large white clock that hung on the wall before the lifts. It was only five in the morning. I wasn't even sure that the Minister would be in his office that early.

I was not surprised to find two women sitting at the two desks in front of the Minister's office. They both gave me uneasy smiles. They no doubt knew who I was and were curious as to my reason for being in front of them. I looked at both women with a frank expression when I stepped out of the lift. The women at the desk to the right of the Minister's office doors was an older looking brunette, with pale wrinkled skin and streaks of white in her brown, pin straight hair. She was wearing a blue dress with matching blue robes over it. The other woman, sitting at the left desk, was a younger woman, perhaps right out of Hogwarts. She looked eager and light-hearted. Her strawberry blonde hair was breaded over her left shoulder. She was wearing a white blouse with blue birds printed on it and a black robe on top.

"Hello," said the older of the two women. "How may I help you?"

"I'm here to see the Minister," I said lightly.

"Do you have an appointment?" the younger woman asked as she opened a leather bond book, that I assumed was the Minister's schedule.

"No," I replied. "But he wished to see me."

"I'm sorry, if you don't have an appointment we can't let you in to see Minister Scrimgeour," the older women said with a serious tone. "Christina would be happy to make an appointment for you."

I smiled frankly at the older woman before looking to the younger one, Christina.

"Christina, I would like to make an appointment for this morning," I said. "First thing when the Minister arrives."

Christina pushed her breaded hair over her shoulder and frowned deeply. "I'm afraid the Minister is booked this morning Ms…?"

"Coleman," I said instantly. Christina didn't seem surprised to hear my name. Her pale cheeks flushed slightly, however and her blue eyes betrayed her opinion of me. I put my hands on my hips, pushing open my cloak to reveal the five knives I was obviously carrying. Both women took them in with whisks of fear in their eyes, but they quickly looked away. "My meeting will only take a few moments. And I'm sure the Minister will be fine with seeing me before his completely booked day begins. He did, after all, request my presents."

"Yes, I did," said a male voice behind me. I turned to see Rufus Scrimgeour stepping out of the lift as it chimed, announcing its arrival to the top floor of the Ministry of Magic. "Hello, Ms. Coleman. Good morning, Christina, Gloria."

The Minister was wearing a black pinstriped suit with a charcoal grey cloak over it. He had on a solid red tie that complimented the suit and made him look very authoritive. In one hand he clung to his leather briefcase, in the other he held the morning copy of the _Daily Prophet_.

"Good morning, Sir," both women said cheerfully. Gloria stood up from her desk and moved towards the office doors. She opened the doors to the Minister's office for him. I didn't wait for an invitation, I followed the Minister into his office. Gloria had walked across the room to a bar where she was preparing a pot of tea. The Minister set his briefcase and newspaper down on his desk then tore off his cloak and suit coat. He threw both of them on the coat wrack behind his desk. As he turned to face me, he rolled up the sleeves of his white button up and made sure that his tie was neatly tucked into his waistcoat. His white, graying hair was flying around his head like a large lion's mane. He looked no different then he had a year ago, before I was fired and he was my direct supervisor.

"Thank you for coming in," he whispered as he motioned for me to take a seat in one of the leather chairs in front of his desk. I took a seat slowly as I studied him, trying to figure out his mood that morning. He looked like stone, as usual. Scrimgeour was always hard to read.

Gloria walked across the large, well-decorated office and placed a tea tray on the hand-made cherry wood desk. Scrimgeour thanked her and requested his schedule, the morning reports and asked that notification be sent to Williamson (I wasn't sure who that was) that he needed to speak to him immediately upon his arrival to the Ministry.

When Gloria left the office, closing the door behind her, I spoke. "Busy morning, Rufus?"

"Always," he said shortly as he stirred his cup of tea with lemon. He took a seat in his oversized brown leather office chair. "You're here earlier then I expected. I thought Gabriel would have to drag you in."

"Why? I said I would be willing to work for you if my conditions are agreed to."

"Your conditions are steep and unreasonable."

"Hardly," I retorted sharply. "I don't want to work for the Ministry, Rufus."

"Because of what happened last year? That was a moronic decision on Fudge's part, you know I did not want to sack you."

"It's not that," I said leaning forward. "I'm not interested in fulfilling your agenda, Rufus. I have my own agenda to fill. I am happy to help you when I can and when I want to, but I have my own problems that I have to take care of."

"You have a responsibility to the wizarding world," Scrimgeour said quickly with harsh stone grey eyes. I sat back with raised eyebrows in surprise.

"Excuse me?"

"You are the only one who can stop Voldemort," Scrimgeour insisted.

I looked at Scrimgeour completely bewildered by his comment. "You don't believe the _Prophet?_" I questioned. "According to them, Harry Potter is the Chosen One, not me."

"The _Prophet_ has no interest in truth, they are only interested in money. I don't think Harry is ready to be the Chosen One. Until he is, we need you to help stop your father—"

"Sir, I get it. I get the political move of having me on your staff," I said quickly with a touch of bitterness in my voice. "I understood the political strategy when Bagnold hired me when I was underage without taking an Auror exam. I am not the poster-girl for the Ministry. And I am most certainly not the Chosen One or this countries last hope, nor do I owe anyone anything. The only responsibility I have is to my daughter—my flesh and blood—my child, who is out there somewhere and in need of her mother."

Scrimgeour nodded, but said nothing as he opened a drawer behind his desk and pulled out a red file folder. He opened it and turned it to face me before flinging it down on the desk in front of me. I leaned forward to see the bloodied photograph of Fenton Scotts, the Death Eater I had killed in self-defense a few weeks ago.

"And who is responsible for that?" Scrimgeour pointed a long knotted finger at the photo. I looked up from the photo with a serious and calm expression in my dark green eyes.

"If I was responsible for it, I would say it was self-defense."

"Come on, Cadence!" Scrimgeour growled in anger as he smacked his palm against the desk, causing his cup of tea to quiver and splash lightly onto the desktop. "I know Scotts was a Death Eater and a sick son-of-a-bitch, but you can't go around just killing Death Eaters when you do not have the Ministry sanctioning your actions."

"Who says I did?"

"Don't talk to me like I'm a fool," Scrimgeour spat. "I'm not Fudge. I know how you work. I'm asking you to join the Ministry because it will help protect you and your actions."

"I thought you were asking me to join the Ministry because it was my responsibility to the wizarding world."

"There is that as well, but I'm just trying to do what is best for you."

This comment caught me off guard. I squinted as I studied Scrimgeour across the desk as a puzzling thought entered my mind. Gabriel was happy yesterday that I was returning to work; he was happy that I was 'coming back to him'…whatever that meant…Had Gabriel asked Scrimgeour to offer me a job?

"Would you have asked me to return if Gabriel hadn't suggested it to you?"

Scrimgeour smiled for a moment, but did not reveal anything else on his wrinkled pale face. He ignored my question when he replied. "I will agree to your conditions except for one. I want you to have a partner at the Ministry, or rather a liaison, if you prefer. It will be simpler for you to interact with one Auror, not the entire department."

I frowned but nodded in understanding. "Fine. Who?"

"I don't know," Scrimgeour said mildly. "The new department head will decide that."

"Who is the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement now?" I asked with a sincere smile.

There was a gentle knock at the office door, which opened instantly. Christina stepped into the office, looking at Scrimgeour with a bright innocent smile.

"You're first appointment is here," she said softly.

"Thank you," Scrimgeour said with a nod. "Send Mr. Quintin in."

"Gabriel?" I said surprised as I turned in my chair to look at the office entrance.

Sure enough, my handsome husband walked into the office after Christina motioned to him. She looked up at him with longing, and rather lustful, eyes, which caused Gabriel to give her a flirtatious smile. I rolled my eyes and sat back in my chair. He was too charming for his own good. And if I was right in assuming he had spoken to Scrimgeour about asking me to return to the Ministry, then I was mad at him.

"Good morning, Minister," Gabriel said as he looked to the front of the office. "Cadence," he added surprised. I looked at him as he approached the desk. He stopped next to the armchair I was sitting in and pinched my cheek affectionately. "Good morning to you too, love."

"Hello," I said with a faint smile as I looked up at his half-cocked smile. I couldn't help biting my bottom lip as his chocolate brown eyes stared down at me. I was right that his eyes would change color. He was wearing a black suit and waistcoat with a dark grey button up and solid skinny black tie. He always dressed so well…but even if he didn't, Gabriel would still drive every woman crazy with his fantastic body, handsome face and devastatingly charming smile.

"I'm sorry for interrupting," Gabriel said looking at the Minister.

"Do not worry, Ms. Coleman showed up without an appointment."

"Of course she did," Gabriel beamed at me while I rolled my eyes. I batted at his hand that was still stroking my cheek. "What did you wish to see me about?"

"The request you put in for a new partner," Scrimgeour said as he sat back in his chair. I was surprised to hear the topic of Gabriel's meeting with the Minister. He was no longer the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, why was he dealing with Gabriel's reassignment request?

"Yes, Sir?"

"I'll grant you the request on one condition."

"And what is that, Sir?" Gabriel asked as he looked at Scrimgeour seriously.

"That you take over as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," Scrimgeour said mildly. My mouth dropped opened in surprise. That is why Scrimgeour was dealing with Gabriel's request; there was no new head to the department. When I looked up at Gabriel, he looked just as surprised as me, but his mouth was not hanging open. I closed my mouth and looked back at Scrimgeour, who was sitting in his chair with his hands folded on the desk smiling triumphantly.


	6. Insubordination

Gabriel and I stood in the elevator in complete silence as we waited for it to descend to the floor where the Department of Magical Law Enforcement resided. He had accepted the job from Minister Scrimgeour after a few moments of discussion. I had remained silent the entire time; mostly because I was surprise that Scrimgeour didn't ask me to leave, but also because I was honestly surprised that he was asking Gabriel. I didn't want Gabriel to take the job, so naturally, I was upset when he said without hesitation, "Absolutely, I would be honored to fill the position."

He could tell I was angry, which is why we rode the elevator in silence.

"Cadence," he said my name with sternness that suggested he was prepared for me to verbally attack him. "I know you're upset, but this is was an easy decision."

"You betrayed Voldemort," I hissed in a low, frustrated whisper. "You are married to me. You are already at high risk because of those two facts, now you want to stand up in front of the entire wizarding world and give Voldemort an _easy_ target? You're wrong, Gabriel. I'm not mad. I shot straight pass mad to pissed off as soon as you accepted his offer."

"This is an honor," Gabriel said turning to me. His voice was deep and aggressive. He leaned forward and pushed the emergency stop button on the lift violently causing it to jerk to a halt. I crossed my arms over my chest defensively and glared at him as he turned his brown eyes to me. "I never thought it would be possible for me to be an Auror, let alone the Head of the department. This is a good way to fight against your father—"

"It's a bullshit way to fight against my father," I interrupted. "It requires you to follow and enforce policies and takes you out of the field! You're one of the most important assets to the Ministry and the Order when you're_ in_ the field. You're not going to do anyone any good sitting in a stuffy office pushing papers."

"I don't think the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement spends a lot of time pushing papers."

I stepped forward, too angry to discuss the matter with him any further, and pushed the release so that the lift would continue to move. I didn't say a word as I stared at the numbers over the lift door that lit up individually as we descended towards the Magical Law Enforcement Department floor.

"Who are you assigning as my liaison?" I asked.

"I will have someone for you by the end of the day," Gabriel responded. "You heard Scrimgeour say that I had to be set up for the position."

"Yea," I growled as the lift chimed and the doors opened. Gabriel stepped out of the lift into the corridor and turned to look back at me. He threw his hand out to stop the doors from closing.

"Aren't you coming?"

I raised my eyebrows at him. "I don't have an office here."

"Get out of the damned lift, Cadence," Gabriel snapped. "You're coming to my office. We're not done discussing this."

"You don't get to use your work office to discuss personal issues, Gabriel. Trust me this is a personal issue!"

"Get out of the lift you intolerable, insubordinate woman!"

"I'm supposed to go to Diagon Alley, bastard," I snapped back shoving his hands off the door. He stepped forward, placing his foot against the door so it opened completely and chimed instead of closing. I grumbled and crossed my arms over my chest again.

"Molly didn't send a letter this morning," Gabriel replied smartly. "You don't know when they're going to Diagon Alley yet."

"I hate you," I muttered with frustration.

"Get out of the lift and come with me to my office."

"No," I said stubbornly. "I will not. We will discuss this when you get home this evening."

"Get out of the lift, Cadence."

I looked up in surprise because it was not Gabriel's voice that was giving the direction. Benjamin Snow stood behind Gabriel staring straight at me with his crystal blue eyes on fire.

"What is it?" I asked instantly, stepping forward. "Is it Carrigan?"

Benjamin frowned. "No, will you come with me to my cubicle? I have a theory regarding Scotts."

"Thomas Scotts?" Gabriel said as he looked at Benjamin. "Why are you investigating that case? You're not on it."

Benjamin ignored Gabriel and kept his eyes on me. "I have a theory that he is not responsible for the kidnappings like the Ministry thought he was."

"What does that have to do with Carrigan?" I asked as we moved down the corridor towards the giant oak doors that lead into the wing of the Ministry that was housed by the Auror department.

"First of all," Benjamin said quickly with some excitement. "Why did you think Scotts was connected to Carrigan's kidnapping? You know who took her."

"I thought perhaps Carrigan would be placed in his charge," I shrugged. "Frankly, I don't know what to think about anything."

"What she is admitting, Benjamin," Gabriel interrupted. "Is that she is flying around the country half-cocked and killing anything that is getting in her way."

I glared up at him as we marched past a few empty cubicles. "Why don't you say that louder next time, so more people in the office can hear you?"

"It's my office and my people, so maybe I will!"

"What?" Benjamin looked bewildered.

"I've been named Head of the department," Gabriel said quietly.

"Congratulations," Benjamin said with a smile.

"Don't congratulate him," I insisted. "He's been an idiot about it—"

"Enough."

I looked at Gabriel sharply and stuck my tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes with a loud sigh and looked back at Benjamin.

"Continue about Scotts."

"Right," Benjamin said quickly as he turned a corner and lead us into his cubicle. "I don't think he is responsible for those kidnappings. What made you think it was him anyways?"

"Physical evidence and eye witness accounts made us think it was him," Gabriel said matter-of-factly. "But you're right, we have no way of knowing for sure because the girls were never found."

"I was hoping that he would be able to help me find out where Carrigan was being held," I said softly, interrupting them. "I was hoping that since he was probably responsible for hiding ten teenage girls around the country that he would be able to tell me where Voldemort may be hiding my daughter. And, since he was a Death Eater, I thought that he was kidnapping teenage girls on orders from my father."

"As a means of blackmail?" Benjamin questioned.

"Yes."

Benjamin looked uncomfortable and fell silent.

"But why don't you think it was him?" Gabriel urged.

"Because, another girl was kidnapped last night," Benjamin said turning to a map that was hanging on the wall of his cubicle. "Here," he pointed to a yellow pin that was stuck in the map just south of where the Ministry was located in London.

"Where is the case file?" Gabriel asked.

Benjamin turned and picked up the blue folder from his desk. He handed it to Gabriel who opened it once it was in his hand.

"Just because another girl was kidnapped doesn't mean Scotts wasn't responsible for the other ten girls that went missing," I said.

"If you're following the theory that those ten girls were taken for blackmail, where does that place Carrigan? Obviously she wasn't taken for blackmail," Benjamin continued quickly. "These blue pins show the ten girls that were supposedly taken by Scotts. This pin, here on the Ministry," he pointed at a purple pin on the map of London. "Shows where Carrigan was taken."

"Carrigan is a separate case," Gabriel said looking up from the file as I leaned forward to look at the map of London more closely. The total of twelve pins looked to be completely random; scattered across the city at multiple and different locations.

"I don't think so," Benjamin said quickly.

"What?" I questioned confused. All of the facts weren't lining up for me. Benjamin had completely lost me.

"The first girl taken," Benjamin said as he pulled out his wand and tapped the very tip of one of the pins. It glowed as if it were a candle wick he had lit with a burning match. "Bernadette Brotherson, was taken before Carrigan at the beginning of May. She is ten years old. The second girl, Donna Peters is eleven," he touched another pin, lighting it up with his wand. "Third girl, taken a week before Carrigan disappeared is Mary Holland, who is twelve. Two days before we follow Harry to the Ministry, Holly Summers is kidnapped, she is thirteen. Carrigan is taken, she is fourteen. A week and a half after Voldemort returns publicly, the sixth girl is taken, Jamie Morri, who is fifteen. Then, the seventh girl, Jenna Hall, sixteen, is taken four days later." Benjamin stopped and looked up at us. "Do you see the pattern?"

"The girl who was taken last night, how old is she?" I asked quietly.

Gabriel looked down at the file. "Twenty two," he replied.

"And the other girls fit the pattern? They were all taken in order of ascending age?"

Benjamin nodded his head. "I don't think Scotts was responsible for all of the kidnappings, if he was he was acting under orders from Voldemort. Carrigan is a part of this string of cases. These girls weren't taken for blackmail—you haven't received any ransom demands and it's been months. I know how you both feel about coincidences. This is not a coincidence."

Gabriel and I looked at each other as silence fell in the cubicle. He closed the file and handed it back to Benjamin, who placed it on the desk.

"What do you do next?" Gabriel asked him.

Benjamin frowned and looked back at the map of London. "We only know that he'll take a twenty three year old next, that's too many witches to track down. Does the Ministry even keep records like that?"

"You're thinking too big, Benjamin," I said quietly with a shake of my head. "Think smaller first. Don't think about what he'll do next, you don't know what he's trying to do now. Focus on that first."

Gabriel smiled. "I'll leave you two to work this out. Cadence, I'll need to see you in my office before you leave for the day."

"Will you actually have an office by the time I leave today?" I asked with a snotty tone.

"Yes," Gabriel replied with a roll of his eyes. He gave me a smile and pinched my cheek playfully before exiting the cubicle.

"We're not done talking about this!" I shouted after him as I stepped into the aisle outside the cubicle. He ignored me and continued to walk towards the other side of the department where his office would be located once it was ready for him.

I pivoted into the cubicle with an annoyed grumble.

"Why is it so bad that's he's the new department head?" Benjamin asked as he took a seat as his desk.

"Because Gabriel is too good to be benched, and that what is being done to him," I said quickly. "He is a strong asset in the field—"

"—kicking ass and taking names," Benjamin nodded with some cheek. I pinched his shoulder viciously which caused him to laugh and slap my hand away.

"My point is that he won't be available to help us with the Order. He'll be too busy with paper work, agenda's and overseeing every case in the department. Not to mention," I lowered my voice quickly. "that the Order of the Phoenix is a secret organization that the Ministry considers to be illegal and against them and the countries' interests."

"You really don't think that he won't be good at this job?"

"Oh no," I said with a shake of my head. "He's fantastic for it, but he's better as an Auror."

Benjamin nodded his head slowly. His piercing blue eyes stared at me with curiosity. I wasn't sure what he was thinking, which made me uneasy. Benjamin Snow had the uncanny ability to make you feel uncomfortable, similar to the way that my niece, Haiden (or Divinity if you prefer), could. He turned back to his desk. "So, we need to figure out why Voldemort needs these girls?"

"Yes," I nodded appreciating the change of topic. "I would start with Dark Magic books. See what sort of rituals, spells and charms require twelve women in ascending age."

"It's a pretty specific requirement, it shouldn't be hard to find something," Benjamin said with a nod of enthusiasm.

"Or it could be very hard to find," I said matter-of-factly. "I will see you later tonight."

Benjamin gave me a nod and smile. "Thanks for the help."

I shook my head as I stood at the entrance of the cubicle. "It was all you, Benjamin. Thank you."

I turned on my heel, walked out of the cubicle and down the aisles towards the opposite side of the department. For a few moments, I considered not going to see Gabriel in his new, over-sized office. Then, as I was about to reach the secretary's desk outside of the office doors, I pivoted and headed towards the lifts. I couldn't help but smile as I pushed the button and waited for the lift to arrive. The act of insubordination was an adrenaline rush.


	7. Seeing Stars

"Molly?" I called loudly as I banged on the door of the Burrow.

The calm summer wind blew by, gently causing my hair to billow away from my head and shoulders. I shivered as the breeze tickled the back of my neck, making the short hairs on my skin stand up. I turned, while waiting for someone to answer the door, to look out at the fields that surrounding the Weasley's home.

I was the only person standing in the proximity of the house, but there was something about my surroundings that made me uneasy. My stomach lurched as no one had yet to answer the door. It was about five in the afternoon, I was expecting someone to be home. I turned to the door and banged on it harshly with my balled fist again, this time, someone answered.

"Who is it?" called Molly's shaken voice.

I sighed with some relief.

"Cadence Coleman," I replied.

For a moment, no one said anything. The door remained shut, but I could hear shuffling and quiet voices behind it. Then, a voice I recognized spoke.

"Cadence?"

I smiled at the young masculine tone of Harry Potter's voice as it came at me through the door.

"Harry," I replied. "Hello."

"Where did we meet for the first time?"

"In Little Winging," I replied instantly. "I can't remember the exact name of the street, but we rode the Knight Bus together."

"What did you give me?"

I sighed with sadness. "A picture of your mother and me." I bit my bottom lip as thoughts of Lily Potter filled my head; how I missed her…how things would be so different if she were still alive.

"You ask a question now, Cadence," Molly's voice said. "To be sure…"

"Harry," I said softly. "Where were we when you confronted me about Sirius for the first time?"

"Hogwarts," he replied. "Professor Binn's classroom."

"Yes, that is correct."

The door opened instantly, revealing Harry in its frame, with Molly Weasley standing behind him.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "We just returned from Diagon Alley out of the fire."

"You went already?" I said surprised as I entered into the kitchen.

"Yes," Molly said as she moved around the kitchen, preparing a snack and some tea. I closed the door behind me and removed my cloak as I looked around the crowded, charming kitchen of the Burrow. "The letters came this morning, when I sent a note to your house, Gabriel said you had already left."

"You sent a note to the house?" I questioned in disbelief.

"Yes," Molly looked at me surprised. "Cadence, is something wrong?"

I frowned and slumped into a chair next to the kitchen table. Harry was standing by the fireplace, looking at me awkwardly, as if he didn't know if he should leave the room or not.

"Gabriel said you hadn't sent a note," I said softly. "I'm sorry Molly, if I had known I would have been over as soon as my meeting concluded with the Minister."

"Why would he lie to you?" Harry asked before Molly made a response. I looked at Harry with mild surprise in my eyes. I smiled. He had always distrusted Gabriel. It was never clear to me why, but perhaps he took Sirius' side in our family matters—Gabriel had replaced Sirius and therefore could not be trusted or liked. That, or Harry was just being sweet by finding it necessary to be protective of me.

"To keep me at the Ministry longer so we could finish our fight," I said easily. "He doesn't like it when I walk away and continue the fight later."

"What were you fighting about?" Molly asked.

I hesitated and looked at my hands that were resting on the tabletop. "Gabriel has been made head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"Cadence! That is such good news!" Molly insisted with a happy smile as she placed cookies on a plate. She walked across the kitchen and set the plate on the table next to me and patted my shoulder with congratulations.

"I'm afraid I don't agree, Molly," I said quietly. "That is why we were fighting."

"Why?" Harry asked puzzled. He was still standing by the fireplace, looking grim and uncomfortable, with his black hair messy on his head and black rimmed glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose. He was dressed smartly, which I'm sure was Molly's doing, in jeans and a black long sleeve shirt that fit him perfectly. He was growing into a very handsome young man. As I studied him, I realized that he no longer had that boyish look to his face and body. His shoulders were broader. He wasn't skinny or scrawny, but lean with defined muscles. And he was tall; taller then he had been at the Ministry a few months ago when Sirius died. Something had changed him in the last few months; made him grow up in some ways. But, I suppose that was true for all of us. We were all different now.

"Because I think it's a bad idea for him to be the head of a department," I replied. "For many reasons…it means he won't be in the field as an Auror doing work for the Ministry or with the Order of the Phoenix. He's a public figure now, he can't be caught running around with an illegal organization that is perceived as being anti-Ministry—"

"How is the Order considered illegal and anti-Ministry? If it weren't for Order the Ministry would probably still have its head up its ass about Voldemort!" Harry snapped angrily.

"Harry!" Molly scolded. I smirked and motioned for Harry to come sit down next to me at the table.

"It's fine, Molly," I shrugged.

"No it's not," she said strictly as the kettle started to whistle. "I'll call the others for tea and cookies, then I'll start dinner." She shuffled out of the room.

Harry sat down next to me and picked up a cookie off the plate. He broke it in half and began to eat it slowly.

"I understand your point," I said softly once we were alone in the kitchen. "And I do agree with you. But that doesn't change the fact that when we started fighting against Voldemort about a year ago, we were also operating against the Ministry because they didn't believe he had returned. Despite his public return, we are still viewed as anti-Ministry because we have been all along. It doesn't matter that we're both fighting for the same thing now."

"It should matter."

"Well," I frowned. "We operate differently as well, which is another reason why I think it is bad that Gabriel is the head of the department. He is bound by Ministry rules and regulations now, where in the Order we just use the rules and regulations of the Ministry as guidelines."

This made Harry frown at me with disapproval. I bit my bottom lip and sighed. "Anyways, I'm also concerned that because Gabriel is now the head, he will be in more danger from Voldemort. It is a miracle that he has been chosen. I thought he would never be chosen because of his past with Voldemort and his relationship with me. I'm sure that the papers are going to have a field day—some will speculate that he is working for my father and is now taking over the Ministry…it's just all too much, in my opinion. We have enough on our plates."

Harry nodded his head as he picked at the cookie he had broken apart. He looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was coming into the kitchen yet. When he looked back at me, he looked solemn, almost sad.

"What's wrong, Harry?"

"When will it get better?" he asked softly. "When will it pass?"

I frowned, knowing that he was referring to the pain of missing Sirius and Carrigan. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat before looking him straight in the eye.

"It will never pass, Harry," I whispered with a sad tone. "It will get better. I don't know when or how long it will take, but I do know it will get better once we find Carrigan. That will bring us one step closer to healing."

"But how do you manage it?" he asked quickly because people could be heard coming down the stairs. I smirked.

"I burn the world down," I replied. "But, there are much more responsible and sensible ways to manage your stress," I added quickly as people began to file into the kitchen. First was Ron, then Hermione behind him, then Ginny and Mrs. Weasley.

"Hi, Cadence," said Ron as he quickly took a seat next to Harry and grabbed a cookie off the plate.

"Hello, everyone," I said with a forced smile.

"Will you be staying for supper?" Molly asked with an instant tone.

"Yes," I answered immediately, because truthfully, I did not want to go home and wait for Gabriel to arrive. Especially at this point, it was completely possible that he was home already and steaming that I was not there for him to yell at.

I left the Ministry to be a snot; to defy him, his authority as the head of the department, and of course, the authority of the Ministry. As I had stated in my terms before accepting the new position, I was not interested in fulfilling anyone else's agenda but my own; and I was certainly not thrilled about being the Ministry's poster-girl or being used for my reputation and the fact that I was Voldemort's good, blood-betraying daughter. I was employed at the Ministry strictly as a consultant and (I believed anyway) that meant I did not answer to the head of the department, whoever he or she might be.

"How was Diagon Alley?" I asked the table as everyone quietly sat down after helping Molly prepare the food for supper. Molly was nervously looking at the clock; she was hoping that Arthur would be home by then. The clock showed that he was at the Ministry still, but it didn't seem to ease her mind as she continued to look at it.

"Fine," Hermione sad softly. "It was rather depressing actually. So many of the shops were boarded up. People were clearing the streets by the time we were heading out to leave…I suppose they don't like being out too late."

"I don't think people like being out at all," Molly said matter-of-factly. "We were lucky that Tonks and Remus were able to come with us."

"I'm surprised Remus was able to," I said. "Again, Molly, I'm sorry I couldn't. I really would have liked to."

"Don't worry about it, Cadence," Molly smiled at me across the table. "You were taking care of important matters."

"We went to Fred and George's new shop," Ginny said excitedly. "It's brilliant. I think Carrigan would have liked it."

"I'm sure she will like it when she gets the chance to see it," I responded.

"When do you think you'll find her?" Ginny asked, causing the room to fall oddly silent. I looked at her with sad eyes.

"I don't know, Ginny. I hope soon."

She nodded in understanding before returning to her dinner. I glanced at Harry, who was looking uncomfortable and sad. Before another word could be said, there was a knock at the kitchen door, which caused everyone to sit up tensely. Molly and I instantly stood, with our wands gripped tightly in our hands.

"Who is it?" Molly called as she approached the door.

"Gabriel Quintin," said the muffled voice behind the door. Molly stood up straight, her hand on the door handle and looked to me for approval.

"Dammit," I muttered and bit my bottom lip. I thought it would have taken him a little bit longer to find me.

"I heard that!" Gabriel snapped despite the door between us.

"Ask him something before he breaks the door down," Harry said quickly. I rolled my eyes as I tucked my wand away and crossed my arms to think of a question. If it had been our front door, I'm sure Gabriel would have added a few cuss words and a swift kick to the door, but since we were at the Burrow Gabriel was restraining himself from breaking down the door.

I approached the door slowly. Molly moved away with her wand still tightly grasped in her hand.

"Today, in the lift you called me?"

"An intolerable and insubordinate woman, but anyone on the floor could have heard me say that and I'm sure many people have called you that before, try another."

"Seriously?" I growled as I stared at the ceiling. He had to be kidding. Now I wanted to kick the door with frustration.

"Cadence!"

"When was the first time I told you I loved you?" I asked as I looked at the door with a small sentimental smile.

"You never had to say it," he replied through the door. My heart melted into mush. Gabriel always had the uncanny way of breaking me down and putting me back together. He was right, of course. I never had to tell him I loved him. He always knew, even when I was in denial and he ignored his feelings. "But, you told me in the graveyard by my mother's grave. Who was there with us?"

"Alessandro," I pulled the door open immediately with a beaming smile. Gabriel stepped forward and we engulfed each other with a tight embrace. I buried my head against his chest while my arms wrapped around his broad muscular shoulders. I felt his arms around my waist and his large hands on my back with his fingers brushing against me softly.

"I'm sorry," I whispered against him. "I'm sorry for today."

He stepped back with surprise and brushed my wild brown curls behind my ear. "My dear Cadence, you never cease to amaze me. I'm sorry too. I realize now that this decision was something that affects our relationship and our family; I should have taken the time to speak to you about it before accepting the job."

I looked at him with raised eyebrows. "That's not really why I'm mad," I said awkwardly.

"I know," he said with a shrug. "I just thought I would try it out so we didn't become uncivil with each other in front of everyone."

I rolled my eyes and stepped back into the kitchen, where everyone was staring at us. "What?" I questioned.

"We were hoping you'd fight or something…" Ron shrugged. "Take it to blows."

"We're more mature then that," I said matter-of-factly.

"One of us is," Gabriel said quickly with a scowl.

I turned a nasty glare in his direction, which made him smile. "Let's go home," he said. "We have not finished discussing any of this and there are some work things we need to discuss in private."

"How long did it take you to find me?" I asked.

"Not very long. When you didn't come to my office within an hour, I knew you had left. When you weren't at home, I knew you would be here because Harry is here."

"You're so smart," I said sarcastically. "Thank you, Molly for dinner and the company."

"Anytime, Cadence," Molly replied with a smile.

I bowed my head to her before waving and biding everyone else good-bye.

"Good bye Cadence," Harry said as he stood from his chair. I pulled him into a warm embrace quickly and kissed his forehead. He didn't say anything else as he pulled out of my arms.

"Good bye," I whispered. He excused himself from the kitchen, which left me feeling empty and depressed. Obviously, Harry was having a hard time managing the loss of Sirius and Carrigan. I glanced at Hermione, Ron and Ginny at the table. "Look out for him," I advised.

"Of course," Hermione said instantly.

"He's fine," Ron shrugged. Every woman looked at him with scowling glares, which caused his ears to flush red. "But we'll look after him either way."

I nodded my head firmly and turned to Gabriel. "Shall we?" I motioned to the door. He stepped forward and grabbed me fiercely around the waist, pulling me tightly against his body and looking down at me with hungry, sexually charged eyes. I could only smile up at him.

"We shall," he said with cheek. I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arms around his shoulders so that he could Apparate us from the kitchen of the Burrow.

When we appeared in the center of our own kitchen, I slipped out of Gabriel's arms. He looked at me seriously, with an intense studying looking in his eyes. For a moment, I thought that he was sad or disappointed.

"I am sorry," I said as I folded my hands behind my back. "For everything that happened today. I was upset…I still am, a bit…and I didn't want to give you the pleasure of being able to control me."

"It's never a pleasure to be the person in charge of you, Cadence," he said sternly. "You always manage to make it difficult for anybody who is your superior."

"So, I have a serious issue with authority. Just another reason why I'm not cut out for the Ministry."

"It doesn't matter if you're cut out for them or not," Gabriel said as he moved around the kitchen, pacing. "We need your help—_I_ need your help."

"The Order needs your help," I responded with some bite. "I need your help finding Carrigan!"

"You won't let me help you," he said angrily. I frowned. So, we were going to have this fight again? "Every time we move forward, we end up moving back even farther—"

"What does that even mean?" I questioned quickly with a harsh tone that caused the countertops to vibrate violently as if an earthquake was threatening to shake the entire house. Gabriel looked at me sharply with a flash in his dark eyes; it was not a lustful flash of passion. His dark green eyes were staring at me with a dangerous warning glare. His body was rigid and muscles tense.

"You let me in a little bit, you let me help you a little bit, but as soon as I do something that you don't like or isn't the way you want to do something you completely pull back. I can't help you find Carrigan if you don't let me!" he growled.

I knew he wanted to yell or scream, maybe break something. I felt the same way. The countertops were still vibrating. My rage was pumping through my body and spreading through the room like a nasty energy infecting my surroundings. As I stood still, tensed and glaring at Gabriel while he lectured me, the countertops continued to hum, the wooden cabinet doors began to shake and rattle against the frames of the cupboards and the floor boards began to quake.

My vision began to blur as rage bubbled in my system. I felt out of control—overwhelmed and completely out of control. A pain spasm shot through my head. I cried out and grabbed my skull as I curled over, tucking my chest to my knees and crouching down on the floor.

"CADENCE!"

A violent explosion erupted through the kitchen. An electric blue shock wave emanated from the center of my body and flew out away from me. It expanded through the kitchen, flattening and ripping apart anything in its path. The cabinets exploded, dishes and glasses went shattering through the air, the pipes in the wall split open and allowed water to spray in every direction; the floor boards rippled away from me, like a wave of wood and nails sailing and crashing down onto the foundation.

I exhaled and sucked in a long cold breath; it felt like I had been underwater, holding my breath as I was being forced to suffocate. I looked up from the floor that I was now laying on and shuttered. My head throbbed in agony while I blinked and stared up at the cracked ceiling over me. My vision began to clear despite the stars I was seeing. I must have hit my head when I tumbled over in the explosion. My arms were extended out around me; my head felt heavy and ached; perhaps I had blacked out. I could fell something clutching my right hand. I rolled my head to the side, pressing my cheek against the loose floorboard that I had fallen on and looked to see Gabriel grasping my hand. Broken pieces of wood and glass lay on him. There was a cut on his forehead with blood running down his tanned skin. His eyes were shut and from my angle I could not tell if he was breathing.

I sighed in pain as I rolled completely on my side and shook his hand, hoping to wake him.

"Gabriel," I gasped as I continued to shake his hand. I began to sit up and crawled towards him. I shoved the broken remains of a few cabinet doors off him. I cut my arm on a stray piece of glass, but barely felt it. The only thing I could feel was the hole forming in my stomach as I looked at Gabriel's still body.

He coughed violently and rolled onto his back with an aggravated sigh. I relaxed immediately. For a few moments, I thought I had killed him. I would never forgive myself if that happened.

"I'm sorry," I said with a shaky voice. "I'm so sorry."

Gabriel sat up while shoving more debris off his body. He looked around the kitchen, taking in the destruction, then turned his glaring eyes at me. I frowned and tucked my messy curls behind my ear. As he glared at me, my body hardened and I looked up at him with a vicious stare. Our eyes burned at each other with loathing, frustration and anger.

The sound of the front door opening and closing broke the silence that had fallen between Gabriel and I. I blinked, breaking our stare, and looked to the entrance of the kitchen where Benjamin Snow's figure appeared.

"Cadence! Gabriel!" he said in shock. He rushed forward; jumping over the flipped tabled and broken chairs, and came straight to my side. "What the hell happened?"

"Cadence destroyed the kitchen," Gabriel sad ruthlessly as he stood up. He didn't look at me and moved out of the kitchen without another word. I sat back against the remains of the counters and looked at the ground. I felt completely defeated. Everything that happened in the last few months struck me at once, like a pile of bricks had been dropped on me and I was buried, suffocating below them with stars dancing over my dizzy head.

I heard a loud crack come from the living room. It meant that Gabriel had left. He had Disapparated from the house. Tears began to run down my cheeks, but I wiped them away quickly. Benjamin bent down to me and took my forearm.

"Come on," he whispered. "Up you get."

He pulled me to stand and released my arm. "Who do you love?" I asked softly as I tried to hold in the rest of my tears that wanted to pour from my tear ducts.

"Carrigan," he responded instantly to my security question. "I'll clean it up."

"Thanks," I muttered as I moved away from him and towards the hall that lead to the front of the house. I paused at the doorframe and turned back to Benjamin. "Do me a favor."

"A favor?" Benjamin looked bewildered.

"When we find Carrigan," I whispered very slowly as I sucked in a long breath. "Let her complete her training and keep your feelings to yourself. You don't want to be in a volatile relationship like this."

I didn't give him a chance to agree to my commands. I pivoted and stumbled out of the kitchen. I paused for a moment at the front of the house to make sure that I had all of my weapons and wand on me. I fixed my cloak and opened the front door.

Outside, the summer night air was warm and welcoming. Dusk had fallen; the western horizon was glowing dark yellow and bright orange and the sky high above me was dark royal blue with speckles of white shining stars. I smiled as I thought of the stars and Sirius; even though I could not see Orion or Sirius in the sky yet, I knew they were out there. Sirius, the dog star, was always present in the night sky even when I couldn't see it, much like Sirius was always present in my life even when I couldn't see him. I suppose, that hadn't changed. I knew that Sirius was still out there looking after me and Carrigan, even though he was very far away beyond a veil that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead.

When I thought of Sirius, I immediately began to think of Carrigan. I imagined her standing before me, looking up at the new house that Gabriel had built for us with his bare hands and wand. Her midnight blue eyes would look at it with awe and pride while the summer breeze teased her chestnut brown curls away from her face and neck. I knew that she would be proud of Gabriel for what he had achieved…she'd be proud that he was named head of the department…she was so much better then me; she was pure and honest, while also being intelligent and aware of her reality. She would have been happy for Gabriel, and even if she wasn't happy, she would have kept her anger or frustration to herself.

I took a long breath and stepped down from the porch as I Apparated. It was time to get some work done. My day had been wasted at the Ministry. I need to get out on the streets, hunt some Death Eaters and look for answers to the many questions that surrounded the kidnappings of young women in the city, including Carrigan.


	8. New Fights

The bedroom was dark when I returned in the early morning hours. I closed the door tightly behind me, as quietly as possible, then turned to look out at the room. To my surprise Gabriel was not in bed; it was empty and still made. I bit my bottom lip with uneasiness. I wasn't sure what to think—if Gabriel didn't come home that evening, what did it mean? Was our marriage over? Was he dead somewhere because Voldemort's Death Eaters had found him? Was he at the office still trying to blow off steam?

"I'm right here, Cadence," his voice said calmly.

I jumped back, startled by his voice and looked towards the bay window in the bedroom. I approached the window, and the armchair that was sitting in front of it, to see his figure leaning back in the chair. He was slouching in the chair in a pair of flannel pajama pants. I frowned slightly as I stood next to his chair.

"I was wondering the same things about you," he whispered quietly.

I touched the back of his chair as I sighed. "I can't tell you how sorry I am."

"Me either," he replied. He was staring out the window. His chin was propped up by his arm; his elbow on the armrest of the chair, his chin in his hand. He didn't look at me, even though I was leaning against his chair.

I sighed uncomfortably. "Are we going to continue to have the same fights, all the time?"

Gabriel turned and looked up at me with surprise. "These are entirely new fights, Cadence."

"But the fact is we always fight," I sighed sadly. "Do you know of a time when we were happy?"

Gabriel reached out to me and pulled me into the chair to sit on his lap. I didn't resist him because truthfully, I wanted him to hold me. I wanted him to tell me it was all going to be okay. We would be okay. Carrigan would be okay…somehow we would all survive the new fights that were presenting themselves every day.

"Yes," he said seriously. "I've been happy since the day I met you. Of course, it's been no picnic, you're a giant pain in the ass, but I know that I am most lost when you are gone. I love you Cadence, even when I hate you, and that is how I know I'm happy. Not many people can make me love them while I hate them."

"Are you trying to be romantic?" I questioned with some bite because his complimented sounded more like an insult.

"I'm telling you that even when we fight, when I'm mad or your raging to the point that you destroy our house, I am happy," he said squeezing my hand while he stared into my eyes. Despite the darkness, I could see the stunning shade of violet that had taken his eyes since I had last seen him in the kitchen. "I am happy because I have you in my corner, no matter what happens."

I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder for a moment. "You're right. You've always been what's made me happy and kept me grounded. I'm sorry that I haven't let you into my corner recently." I paused to think for a moment. "Everything is so different now…and I don't know what is real and what isn't. You say these are new fights between us, but Gabriel, everything to me is a new fight. It's a fight just to get out of bed in the morning. And it's a fight to find Carrigan. I don't want to fight with you anymore…I don't know how much fight I have left in me for that…"

Gabriel's fingers brushed through my messy hair as he listened to me speak. He didn't say anything to comfort me. He leaned forward slightly and gently kissed my lips. There was a somber feel to his kiss; it was soft and cultivated. His tender lips pressed into mine as we continued to kiss. Our arms wrapped around each other as the kisses became more passionate.

I repositioned myself on Gabriel's lap so that I was straddling him and kissed him romantically with my tongue journeying into his mouth. He groaned with hot sexual desire as his fingertips traced the waistline of my pants across my hips and around behind me. He rested his hands on my bottom, squeezing gently as he pressed his groin up into mine. I smiled against his lips, pressed my body forward onto him and moved my mouth to his neck where I kissed and bit at him playfully.

Without warning, Gabriel wrapped his right arm tightly around me and stood up from the chair. I clung to him as I continued to kiss him, keeping my eyes shut as he carried me across the room to the bed. I trusted that he wouldn't drop me; and the way he carried me and tossed me gently on the bed was incredibly sexy. His hyper masculine and dominant qualities made my body weak with pleasure and overwhelming desire. I laid back in the bed, as he stood before me, stripping off his clothes. I couldn't help but smile wickedly as his hard, cut body was revealed to me. Every defined, muscular line made me quiver with compulsion; the fantastic artwork that decorated his arms, shoulders and parts of his torso just added to his bad-boy attitude and appearance. I was the luckiest woman alive; I had the hottest husband in the world.

He leaned over the bed and grabbed the belt loops of my pants. He pulled me to the edge of the bed and kissed me hard as he undid the button and zipper. Gabriel's kisses were always dark and mysterious; they made me feel so many things at once—love, desire, passion, fear…His kisses were just evidence of how much he made me feel. More then ever I was in love with him and I knew that he loved and desired me. But he also made me realize everything I had to lose; everything that I feared losing. His kisses reminded me of what it would be like to never kiss him again. I didn't want to lose that. I didn't want it to be our last kiss; but he always managed to kiss me as if it were going to be the last time.

Within moments, I was naked and pressed beneath him in a fury of intoxicating stimulation. His mouth danced across my neck, shoulders and collarbone. His right hand was tangled in my hair, holding my head, while the other was wrapped around my waist, holding me tightly against him.

I pressed my hands against his chest and quickly, pushed him over onto the bed. Our bodies remained pressed together as I took control on top of him. I kissed him dangerously, hoping to make him feel everything that I felt. It wasn't long after that that we both succumb to the overwhelming excitement that had taken our systems. I cried out in feverish longing; he groaned beneath me as I buried my head in the crook of his neck.

Gasping for breath, I rolled off him. My legs hung off the side of the bed feeling weak and numb. I smiled as I turned my head to look at Gabriel. He was smiling back at me, looking just as exhausted as I felt. He reached across, rolling onto his side and touched my cheek. We kissed slowly as the vigor seeped from our system.

I gasped for breath as my back arched with searing pain that shot up my spin. I cried out and recoiled from Gabriel, startling him to stand up from the bed. I felt as if my skull was being crushed between two overpowering hands; they were holding me, pressing down on me, refusing to let me go.

_Mom!_

Carrigan's panicked voice rang in my ears.

_Help me, please! _She was sobbing; crying out for someone to save her.

_MAKE IT STOP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!_

The pain dissipated. I gasped for breath as I slid off the side of the bed, falling onto my knees on the hard wood floor of the bedroom. I held my head as tears fell down my cheeks.

"Cadence?" Gabriel's voice was close by. I lifted my head to see him crouching beside me, his hands were on my shoulders. "What was it?"

"I heard Carrigan," I whispered, not bothering to wipe the tears from my eyes. "She was crying for help."

Gabriel frowned and pulled me up off the floor. He held me in his arms as we sat back down on the bed and kissed my forehead gently. I quickly composed myself and wiped the tears from my cheeks. I stood up, pulling out of his arms, and began to make my way around the room, getting dressed.

"What are you doing?"

"I need to talk to Benjamin," I said. "See if he made any headway with his research today."

"Cadence, you need to sleep," Gabriel said calmly from the bed.

"I can't sleep right now, Gabriel. There's no point of trying," I stopped at the bedroom door. "You get some rest. You need to be up for work tomorrow. I'll let you know if Benjamin did find something."

Gabriel frowned and didn't say anything. I left the bedroom before he really had the chance to. Before going to Benjamin's bedroom, I stopped at the bathroom to clean myself up. It only took a few moments, but once I had showered and redressed I banged my hand on Benjamin's door. The point was to wake him, so I had no remorse about being loud.

The bedroom door opened after a few moments of stumbling and cussing could be heard. I stepped back from the door when it was ruthlessly pulled opened by Benjamin who stood before me in the doorframe in his boxer shorts. I frowned slightly.

"What the bloody hell, Cadence!? It's three in the morning!"

"Get dressed," I said. "I need to talk to you."

"What about?" he snarled with grogginess.

"I just had a connection to Carrigan," I retorted. "We're running out of time. Get dressed and meet me in the kitchen."

I turned on my heel and marched away from him. He slammed his bedroom door violently, making me smirk. Obviously, Benjamin was not a morning person. When I arrived downstairs, I was surprised to find Gabriel in the beautifully rebuilt kitchen, making pancakes and tea. I entered the kitchen slowly, looking at him with raised eyebrows. He turned to me, a frying pan of pancakes in one hand and a spatula in the other.

"You didn't think I was really going to go to bed, did you?"

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," I replied with a weak smile. Gabriel nodded his head once and turned back to the stove. He flipped the pancakes out of the pan and onto a plate. I moved forward and retrieved three plates from the cabinet. Gabriel smiled at me when I arrived at his side and set the plates out. He thanked me then served the pancakes.

"You're not going to push me away," he said as he leaned forward and stole a kiss from my lips. "If this is how you're going to be, I'm going to fight just as hard as you. Even if that means I have to fight to stand next to you."

"I'll try not to make it that difficult," I smirked as I looked up at him.

"Good," he said then kissed me again very slowly.

"I know you didn't wake me up so I could watch you two snog in the kitchen," Benjamin said sorely as he entered the kitchen, fully dressed in black jeans and a red tee shirt.

"Thanks for rebuilding the kitchen," Gabriel said with a nod.

"Sure," Benjamin said nonchalantly. He took a seat at the table and leaned back with a long, wide yawn. I picked up a plate of pancakes and set it in front of him.

"What'd you find?"

"You're not even going to sit down?" he questioned. "Or give me a fork?"

I snapped my fingers and a fork appeared in my hand. I held it out to him. Benjamin's crystal blue eyes locked with my green-eyed stare as he took the fork from my hand. He turned away, breaking the intense stare, and began to dig into his breakfast. Gabriel and I took seats on either side of him and waited patiently for him to speak while we ate.

"I had to do a lot of digging," he said very carefully after he took a sip of tea that Gabriel had brought over. "That's why I was there so late. I looked into all types of dark magic, white magic and even red magic trying to find something that would require twelve women in ascending age. The Ministry's resources proved to be fruitless. So, I thought I would look at other case files in the archives, see if anything jumped out at me. I was running out of ideas…I needed to look at it all from a different angle. I came across your old partner's files."

"Mitchell Scott?" I said surprised. "How did you come across those in regards to this?"

"Well, I searched for 'experimental' magic. Because there is no record of any sort of magic requiring twelve women, I thought maybe this is something experimental. What else could it be? Mitchell Scott's file came up…so I read it."

I frowned deeply. I knew where this was going. Benjamin had fond the file on Rickon Form and Penelope Talon, who were responsible for research operations for Voldemort. Penelope was my niece, Haiden's, Guardian. She had betrayed the relationship they had and performed experimental procedures on Haiden in an attempt to prove if she was immortal. And when it was discovered that Haiden was not immortal, they proceeded attempting to make her immortal. The research was meant to find a way to make Voldemort immortal. They had to use Haiden because they needed a female infant of his bloodline for their research.

I couldn't remember if I had named Penelope Talon in the file, or if I had used her other alias, Savanna Snow. Benjamin didn't know it, but Penelope Talon was his mother.

"I read the files of what happened last year, how Rickon Form was responsible for Mitchell's death and putting Gabriel in a comma. I was curious why Scott was interested in Form. In your file, you said that Form and his partner—who you didn't name—were responsible for magical research operations for Voldemort. The work they did on your niece is gruesome and terrible. I was thinking if he was responsible for research, maybe he had outlined a theory that required twelve women of ascending age."

"It's more likely that his partner outlined the theory," I said honestly. "She was the brains behind the research done on Haiden. Of course, she would be involved in all of this. That woman is the bane of my existence."

I was angry. If Penelope Talon was somehow involved with Carrigan's kidnapping, I was going to find a way to resurrect her so that I could kill her again. It seemed that no matter what went wrong in my life, or when it happened, Penelope Talon was somehow involved.

"Well, let's track her down! Do you know who she is?" Benjamin questioned eagerly. He thought that we had caught a break…that we were getting closer to finding Carrigan.

I looked at Gabriel with a grim expression. He returned my stare, but with a firm fatherly look in his eyes.

_You should tell him,_ Gabriel said in my mind. I frowned deeply and exhaled with aggravation. I didn't want to tell Benjamin that his mother was a betraying killer.

"Form and his partner are dead," I whispered. Gabriel frowned, but didn't say anything, which I was thankful for.

"How do you know the partner is dead?"

"I killed her," I whispered tragically. "Just before Voldemort returned to power."

"So, we have no leads then," Benjamin exhaled with annoyance. "I think this is the way we need to go though…is there a way we can get our hands on their research at all? Would Haiden be able to help us?"

"I don't know, Benjamin," I said with a defeated tone as I looked at Gabriel again. The room fell silent and Benjamin looked between Gabriel and I with distrusting eyes.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said. "It just is a dead end…"

"You're not looking me in the eye." I pivoted to face him, still frowning. "And you're blocking me…"

"I block everyone," I responded. "I think you're on a roll, Benjamin, I do. We have to find out what requires twelve women in ascending age and experimental research is most certainly not out of the question. I actually think you're absolutely right about it. It's the only thing that makes sense. But we're not going to be able to find out about the research from Form or his partner, so we need to devise a different plan from a different angle."

"Who was she?" His crystal blue eyes were annoyed; his tone and body posture exemplified his annoyance.

"Her name was Penelope Talon," I responded honestly. "She befriend and betrayed me. Her process of gaining my trust took years. She and I met before Carrigan was even born and she made me believe that she and I were very similar. When she reappeared in my life, I didn't doubt her, which is how she got the best of me. She laid, undercover in our home and even grew close to Carrigan, all the while reporting back to my father and aiding him to return to power. I killed her in a struggle in front of my father and Peter Pettigrew a few days before the ritual to resurrect him was performed."

"Carrigan mentioned her to me," Benjamin admitted with a nod of his head. "But that doesn't explain why you're resisting sharing your thoughts with me. _You woke me up, remember?"_

Benjamin was more perceptive then I gave him credit for. He was obviously a very good Guardian. He was able to read me even though I wasn't his charge. I frowned grimly and looked down, which I'm sure did not instill confidence.

I hesitated, but then I snapped my fingers and made a small gold locket appear. I extended it to Benjamin carefully. He looked at me perplexed.

"This belonged to Penelope," I said. "I found it after she died."

Benjamin looked at the locket as he took it from me and his expression immediately changed. He recognized it. He probably remembered the necklace hanging in front of his face as his mother held him close to her chest. I looked at Gabriel who was sitting across from me looking indifferent. His emotions were not revealed on his face, but he did seem tense and ready for a fight.

"You should open it," I said.

Benjamin opened the locket and stared at the picture of a man, who looked almost identical to him, and a small boy. He set the locket down and looked up at me. His expression was blank, too overwhelmed with surprise to express anything. But that quickly melted away as rage flushed his cheeks and ears.

"You knew I was looking for her," he said quickly. "The moment we met you knew I was searching for my mother…all this time, you knew!"

"I've known for about a year," I admitted. "I wasn't sure how to tell you…if you'd even want to know who she was."

"I had a right to know! You had no right to make that decision," Benjamin shot up from his chair; it skidded back across the kitchen floor and slammed into the wall with a loud crunch. There was no chance to say another word, Benjamin marched to the front of the house and left, slamming the front door behind him violently.

I exhaled and fell back in my chair, feeling defeated.

"Well," Gabriel said as I looked up at him. He sipped from his teacup before continuing. "At least you won't be fighting with me anymore. Benjamin has enough fight in him for the both of us."

"Shut up," I growled as Gabriel chuckled.


	9. Sometimes Love Isn't Enough

The doorbell chimed through the house announcing that someone had arrived at my front porch. I sat up at my desk, where my head had been lying, in surprise. A piece of parchment was stuck to my cheek so I quickly pealed it off with minor embarrassment. I had fallen asleep while reading Mitchell Scott's file on Rickon Form.

Also on my desk was a file that I had created from my encounter with Form. Even though I had not worked for the Ministry at the time, I had created a file for them under Scrimgeour's orders. Gabriel did work for the Ministry and he was also involved in Form's…capture, for lack of a better word. Below my file was a copy of Gabriel's reports of the incident. He had kindly brought all three files home for me the day I told Benjamin who his mother was.

I replaced all the pieces of parchment into the file folder and closed it quickly as the doorbell rang again. I frowned. No one I knew was patient. Everyone expected me to come running the moment they rang the bell. I left my study and descended the stairs to the foyer. Through the long skinny windows on either side of my front door, I could see Remus Lupin's scrawny figure. I smiled as I pulled the door opened. My wand was tightly held in my right hand, but hung at my side, ready to strike.

"Remus!"

He looked frail, thin and aged. His long brown hair was tucked behind his ears and graying at the roots. His dark brown eyes looked tired, as they always did now. And his clothes were patchy, warn and faded.

"You just open the door to anyone? I could have blown your face off!"

I lifted my wand immediately and pressed it to Remus' neck. He stood rigid on my porch, staring at me with wide eyes. "You didn't take advantage of my foolishness then. Where did Sirius go when I turned down his marriage proposal?"

"Which time?" Remus joked with a beaming smile despite my wand stabbing his throat.

"The only time," I said sorely.

"He came to my house. Stayed there until he went to Azkaban." I nodded and pulled my wand back. "Why does Tonk's Patronus take the shape of a wolf?"

"It's a werewolf actually," I replied. "And it's because she loves you."

Remus nodded. "I couldn't remember if she had told you or Molly that. For a moment, I thought that was a bad question to ask you."

"She told both Molly and me," I said motioning for him to enter the house. He passed under the threshold and looked around the foyer. "We were all having tea last month."

"You have time for tea?"

"Not really, no," I said as I closed the door. "But everyone seems to think that I'm obsessing over Carrigan's disappearance so much that it is blinding me. I try to make time for tea to appease the people who love me."

"Then you don't mind me dropping by?"

I lead Remus to the back of the house into the kitchen. He was looking around curiously. It was the first time he had ever been in my new home. Truthfully, I hoped it would be my last home. I liked the location so close to the Burrow and frankly, I didn't want to have to move again. I was tired of my home and all my belongings being blown up or burnt down.

"To be honest, I had fallen asleep with my face on the desk, so you're not interrupting anything anyways. Do you want tea?"

"Of course," Remus smiled as he took a seat at the kitchen table. I made my way across the kitchen to the stove and put the kettle of water on to boil. "What were you working on?"

"Hm?"

"You said you fell asleep on the desk, what were you working on?"

"Oh," I turned to face Remus and leaned against the counter. "I was reading an old Ministry file on Rickon Form."

"I'm not familiar with the name."

"Set off the bomb last year that put Gabriel in a comma and killed Mitchell Scott."

Remus nodded in understanding. "He assaulted you and Carrigan."

"Yes," I replied. "We caught him and interrogated him. Discovered that he and Penelope Talon were responsible for experimental magical research for Voldemort. Talon was the mastermind behind the experiments performed on Haiden."

"Why are you reading about him?"

"Benjamin came across a pattern that ties Carrigan's kidnappings to eleven others in the city. All twelve girls were taken in order of ascending age. No one has been kidnapped since the twelfth girl was taken. Benjamin couldn't find any spells, curses or rituals that require twelve girls in ascending age. Our next guess is experimental research. We feel that Form and Talon's research is the best lead we have."

"But the Ministry files would just concern the results of your interrogation. Was this sort of experiment brought up with Form?"

"No," I frowned. The kettle behind me on the stove began to whistle. I turned and quickly pulled it off the heat. I turned off the stove before retrieving two cups from the cabinet. I placed tealeaves in the bottom of the cups and poured the water. As the leaves absorbed the water, I walked to the table to sit with Remus.

"So, what do you hope to find in these files?"

I forced a smile at Remus. "I don't know. Benjamin hasn't been home in over a week, so I don't know if he's made any headway either."

Remus looked at me confused. "Why hasn't he been home?"

"I informed him when he presented me with this new lead that Penelope Talon, a.k.a. Savanna Snow, was his mother," I said bluntly. "He didn't take the news kindly and walked out." I sipped my tea as Remus' brown eyes looked at me with bewildered surprise.

"He's upset you didn't tell him sooner?"

Remus was very wise and understood young people better then I did. It was one of the reasons he was such a good teacher. He was perceptive and considerate. He considered everything before speaking; and even after that, he still understood that different people have different perspectives. He was very open minded and level headed. I'm sure that's why Tonks was so taken by him, despite their significant age difference.

"Apparently," I shrugged. "Which is fine, I guess. He's either upset that I didn't tell him for a year or that his mother was a cold-hearted, backstabbing bitch. He can deal with the truth however he likes. But, because Gabriel has seen him at the office, that leads me to deduce that he's mad at me and doesn't want to live here."

"You're moodier then usual today," Remus smirked then took a sip of his hot tea.

"I told you I fell asleep on my desk," I said with a laugh. "I haven't slept in at least three days."

"Perhaps you should."

"I think I will after you leave," I said. "I know you didn't come out here just for tea. What is on your mind, Remus?"

"I wanted your opinion on something."

"Mine?"

"Yes," he continued slowly. "Dumbledore has asked me to go underground with the werewolves who follow your father. He wants me to be a spy for the Order."

"I think it's a brilliant idea," I said instantly. "We need someone inside their ranks. It's important we keep tabs on Greyback."

"Yes," Remus conceded. "I agree, however, I am very concerned about how it will affect my relationship with Nymphadora."

I smiled when Remus referred to Tonks by her first name. She hated the name. I could only imagine how she rung Remus out when he called her 'Nymphadora' in person.

"Why are you worried about that? Surely, she'll understand that it's an important mission and that you're the only person who can really accept the job."

"I'm worried that she'll see it as a way to avoid her," he admitted. I looked at him puzzled. I wasn't sure what he meant. Why would he be avoiding Tonks? They both loved each other and enjoyed the other's company…I frowned abruptly, realizing that sometimes love wasn't enough.

"Are you avoiding her?" I asked softly to clarify. Remus put his teacup down and turned his brown eyes away from me. He sighed deeply as if he were carefully thinking about what to say.

"I think that it's better and safer for us to be apart," he said sadly. He looked up at me. His brown eyes revealed more then his tone of voice. He was pained. He knew that this choice, the decision to go underground, was something that could break his relationship with Tonks.

"You think it's better for Tonks that you two aren't together?"

"I'm a werewolf, Cadence!" Remus said abruptly as if I didn't know it already. "How can I have a serious romantic relationship with any woman?"

I looked at Remus very seriously as realization dawned on me. "You don't know if you love her."

Remus frowned as he sat back in his chair. He looked relieved that I had said it instead of him, but I could see that my statement was true. He was unsure about his feelings for Tonks.

"Remus," I said in a comforting tone as I reached out and touched his arm. He gave me a grim smile.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I'm afraid that there are so many things working against us that it doesn't matter how much she loves me or I love her. Sometimes, love isn't enough. Like you and Sirius…"

"Using my relationship with Sirius is a terrible idea," I said honestly. "It's not a fair comparison. At some point, I loved Sirius. I loved Sirius a little, but not as much as he loved me or I loved Gabriel. It's possible that you only love Tonks a little, and that's not a bad thing. But if you don't see a future with her then you should end it. Don't lead her on like I did Sirius."

"No," Remus shook his head. "It's not that. You're right, comparing my relationship with Nymphadora to yours with Sirius was a bad example. I love her, Cadence. I am sure of that. She's about ten years younger then me, which makes things interesting, but complicated. The biggest issue is that I'm a werewolf—I could hurt her accidentally. I could kill her, or worse turn her into a werewolf! Kids aren't even an option. Doesn't she deserve someone who can give her a full life that isn't dangerous with children?"

"Does she want kids?" I asked. "Maybe what matters to her most is spending the rest of her life, even if it is dangerous and child free, with you. She doesn't care about the other things. And let's be honest, Remus, we all live in a dangerous world. Sadly, I don't think that will change in the near future."

Remus sat back, pondering what I had said. "But, I think this is a conversation you should be having with her," I smiled honestly. "You love her, Remus, tell her that. And discuss your feelings with her. That's all there is too it."

Remus looked at me seriously. "Normally, I would have gone to Sirius about this."

"About your relationship problems?" I laughed. "He would have laughed at you and said that he was a terrible person to give advice about relationships."

"He would have," Remus laughed with me. "And it's true. If I had gone to Sirius, he would have told me to let it be and go underground because it was the right thing to do. He wouldn't tell me to talk about my feelings."

I smiled and squeezed Remus' hand. "I do miss him," I whispered sadly. "Despite how angry he was and how much we fought, I miss him. I miss fighting with him. He'd never let me hear the end of Carrigan's kidnapping."

"He was angry because he felt out of control," Remus said. "Most of his adult life passed him by. When he got of Azkaban he had nothing to hold onto…life kept going as if he still wasn't really apart of it. I miss him too, but it helps me to know that he died happy. He died dueling. He wouldn't have had it any other way." Remus paused and took a sip of his tea before he continued. "And about Carrigan, he would have stood by you, Cadence. He would have become just as obsessed as you and he wouldn't have stopped to have tea with those who loved him. He would've given you hell for doing so."

I smiled because I knew he was right. Think about Sirius and his death though made me think more of Carrigan. How I missed her and how she reminded me of Sirius; how she had his eyes and laugh; how she smiled…

"I just can't imagine what Carrigan is going through right now," I said still in a low tone. "She saw Sirius die and then was kidnapped by the woman who killed him…she's probably so scared she can't even mourn his death. I'm scared that even if we do find her that she won't be the same…that really she'll be gone…"

Remus took my hand and squeezed it. "You can't think like that. You know she's stronger then you. If you can survive being kidnapped, I'm sure she can. Let's worry about getting her back, then we'll worry about healing her."

"Thank you," I tapped his hand.

"Benjamin is Carrigan's Guardian, like Gabriel is yours?"

Remus never ceased to amaze me. Guardians weren't well known or accepted in the magically community. They were supposed to be mythical guides of powerful witches and wizards. Usually, when someone heard of a Guardian they laughed and said they were just legend. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised as Remus was Sirius' best friend. He probably told Remus in a rant that Gabriel was my Guardian.

"Yes," I nodded.

"He can't find her? Gabriel was always able to find you by sensing for you," Remus said slowly.

I frowned deeply. "No, he can't find her for some reason."

In my head I was thinking, _sometimes love isn't enough._

It didn't matter that Benjamin was Carrigan's Guardian or that he loved her, because sometimes, love just wasn't enough. In Carrigan's case, it certainly wasn't enough because I couldn't sense her location either and I loved my daughter more then the world itself.


	10. Haiden and Henry

It had been weeks since I had seen or heard from Benjamin. Now, I was starting to get worried. It was the middle of August. Within two weeks time, Harry and the other children would be heading back to Hogwarts for the school year. At the rate we were going, it looked like they would be going without Carrigan.

"Have you talked to him at work?" I questioned Gabriel sharply one evening while we were in the basement. I was standing across the room, throwing knives at a target on the wall, while he lounged in a comfortable armchair that he had conjured in the corner. He looked up from a file folder that he had on his lap. He was reading and signing reports while I ranted and took my aggression out on the target pinned to the wall.

"Of course I have," Gabriel said.

I was about to throw another knife at the target. When Gabriel spoke, I stopped abruptly and pivoted to look at him face on. He was looking at the file folder, not at me, which frustrated me.

"About his experimental magic idea?"

"What?" Gabriel looked up at me with raised eyebrows. "No, I've spoken to him about work. I'm not getting involved in the fight between you two."

"We're not fighting," I retorted as I repositioned myself and took aim at the target. "He's being a child." I flung the knife at the wall and watched with mild satisfaction as it slammed into the center of the target.

Gabriel laughed at me. "Really? He's being the child?"

I paused to viciously glare at him; if he were any other man, I'm sure that Gabriel would have broken from my glare, but he was so used to it that it didn't even make him flinch.

"I've assigned you a liaison," Gabriel said, changing the subject as he closed the file on his lap and set it on a small table he had conjured on the left side of his armchair. He turned to his right side, where another table stood with a stack of files on it, and picked up the top one.

"Yea?" I questioned. "Who?"

"Benjamin Snow," Gabriel said very casually.

"Are you kidding me!?" I snapped looking at him. "He's completely unqualified to be my liaison."

"He's an Aurora, that's all the qualification he needs."

"He's a rookie Auror! He's still shadowing what's-his-face—"

"—Seamus Denmark," Gabriel threw in as I ranted.

"—whatever," I snapped. "Benjamin should be focused on his work shadowing. He doesn't need to be saddled with the work of being my liaison."

"I admit, you are a burden to anyone at the Ministry because you're such a pain in the ass," Gabriel conceded, causing me to glare at him with vindictiveness. "But the only thing he has to do as your liaison is share a cubicle with you when you decide to show up at the office and reinforce Ministry policies on you so you don't 'accidentally' kill someone or break the rules."

I put my hands on my hips with a cross stare at Gabriel, who was smiling calmly.

"Besides, if will force you two to talk to each other," Gabriel said matter-of-factly.

"I thought you weren't getting involved in our fight."

"I'm not," Gabriel insisted. "I'm mediating. That's part of my job as head of the department. I have to manage the schoolyard and stop the children from bickering."

He said the last comment with such distain and sarcasm, I couldn't help but laugh. I wanted to say 'I told you so,' but I felt that it would not help the situation. Gabriel had been on edge since he had become head of the department. The first week was manageable, but now the full weight of his office had set in and the workload was heavy. Like he had said, he had to manage the schoolyard that was the department; and Benjamin and I weren't the only ones who were having petty work-relationship issues. Most of Gabriel's work was paper work and managing other people, which he did well. He was certainly qualified for the position, but it still wasn't him and I could tell that he wasn't happy. He missed being in the field.

"So," Gabriel pressed on. He knew what I was thinking though; even if he didn't use Legilimency on me. He was fully aware that I thought I was right about his job. "I would like you to come into the office tomorrow. I have a case I would like you to consider looking at."

"Alright," I whispered. I threw the knife at the target again and it landed in the center. I pivoted on me heel and strode to Gabriel. "What's the case?"

"I don't have it with me," Gabriel said softly while still looking at the file on his lap. I took the file gently and pulled it from his hands. He looked up at me with surprise. I closed the folder and set it back on the table with the other files, then sat on Gabriel's lap.

"Doesn't mean you don't remember what it's about."

Gabriel wrapped his arms around me as he smiled, looking up at me with stunning hazel eyes. "It's about a specific Death Eater that Benjamin needs your help with."

I sighed and collapsed a little on him. "You don't have to put us on a case together to get us to talk to each other!"

"He doesn't realize that he needs your help," Gabriel said. "And it's an important case, you should definitely be on it."

"I don't like this mysterious side of you," I said sharply. "Why don't you just tell me who and what the case is about and I will decide if I'm going to help Benjamin with it?"

"Because, it's his find, you should hear it from him."

"His find?"

I stared at Gabriel for a few moments, pondering what Benjamin could have found. I stood up quickly in surprised shock. "Has Benjamin found another lead to the kidnappings?"

"Yes," Gabriel said softly with a smile. "He really is an incredible Auror and investigator."

"Yes," I said heading for the stairs. "He is. You should have told me as soon as you knew."

"I did! Where are you going?" Gabriel called behind me.

"To the Ministry, Benjamin must still be there."

"It's ten o'clock at night!"

I waved Gabriel off and dashed up the stairs quickly. My mind was racing with excitement. If Benjamin had discovered another lead in the twelve kidnappings then we were one-step closer to finding Carrigan. I wasn't going to give up hope and I wanted her home more then ever now. I wanted to get her back before Hogwarts started school.

The Ministry of Magic was dark and empty when I arrived at ten thirty. I Apparated from my foyer to the atrium to save time. I was not surprised to find it quiet and abandoned as the workday had concluded. Without waiting, I marched to the lifts and stepped into one. I hoped, as I rode the lift in cool silence, that Benjamin was in fact here. If he wasn't here at the Ministry, I don't know where he would be.

Thankfully, when I arrived in the Auror wing of the Magical Law Enforcement Department, a light could be seen coming from Benjamin's cubicle. I silently made my way through the aisles of cubicles to arrive at his. My jaw almost hit the floor when I entered the cubicle and found not just Benjamin Snow, but my niece Haiden Drake, both in chairs working over the desk.

"Cadence!" Benjamin managed to say my name with more distain then surprise.

"Hi Aunt Cadence," Haiden said with an uncomfortable smile.

"What are you doing here so late?" Benjamin questioned defensively.

"Gabriel told me you're my liaison," I said mildly as I studied my niece, who was relaxed in her chair, wearing baggy grey sweat pants and a tight navy blue tank top. Her hair parted perfectly down the center of her head, separating her brown locks from her natural blonde curls. There was a hint of awkwardness in her mismatching green and ice blue eyes, suggesting that she knew Benjamin and I had a disagreement. By her appearance and carriage, I believed that it could be Haiden sitting in front of me. Her counterpart, Divinity Jasper, was much sterner looking with her posture and form. Divinity's eyes tended to be harsher, darker in tint, and if Divinity was in control when they woke up in the morning, their presentation was more professional and clean-cut. The fact that Divinity could be disguising herself as Haiden to earn Benjamin's (and even my) trust didn't escape me.

I crossed my arms over my chest as I stared at the two of them. Was this why Gabriel hadn't told me right away? Did he know that Benjamin was working with Haiden who I distrusted? Talking to Haiden was a great deal like handling a bomb. First of all, you couldn't necessarily trust that you were talking to Haiden; for all you knew you were talking to Divinity who would report back to Voldemort. Or, even worse, you could be talking to Haiden, but because she inhabited the same body as Divinity, it was completely possible for Divinity to be aware of what you're talking about. Secondly, you had to be careful what you said and how you spoke, anything could spark a reaction from Persephone, her third identity. Persephone was the Seer inside of Haiden that had premonitions. Divinity and Persephone were both results of the experiments Rickon Form and Savanna Snow performed on Haiden during their project 'Cepheus.'

"And you came over right away?" Benjamin's tone was pretentious, and I didn't appreciate it.

"He also said that you may need my help on a case," I folded my arms behind my back. "That you have a lead on the kidnappings?"

"Yes," Haiden smiled. "That is why I am here."

I looked at Haiden with steady green eyes. She smiled back at me. "Don't worry, Aunt Cadence. Ben hasn't been a complete idiot. He's only telling me what he thinks I need to know."

I didn't appreciate her tone either. I stood up straight and rolled my shoulders back. "What do you have to do with the lead in the kidnappings?"

"Ben wanted my help since I'm the only one left who really knows about Form and Snow's experiments. Also, because of Divinity's knowledge of Voldemort's inner circle, I might be able to shed some light."

"How can we—"

"Trust me?" Haiden finished for me.

"I found her in a Muggle psychiatric ward," Benjamin said. "Two weeks ago. She committed herself in hopes that Muggle drugs might be able to keep Divinity and Persephone at bay."

"So far, they have," Haiden said lightly. "The fact is, Aunt Cadence, I'm sick. I have multiple personality disorder and I need to be medicated for it."

"How can Muggle medicine manage a magically induced sickness? Especially when the experiments performed on you were dark magic?"

Haiden shrugged. "Since I was committed I've only had one episode. I haven't had any since they medicated me."

"She hasn't had any since she's been staying with me," Benjamin added.

I couldn't believe any of it; I could only accept it. Fine, so Haiden was currently with us and able to manage her disorder because of Muggle drugs…but that didn't mean I trusted her. I was going to have to play this game very carefully, just like I did with Carrigan's friend Henry Thrett.

"Where have you been staying?"

"That's really none of your business," Benjamin said flatly.

I frowned, but nodded in understand. "Gabriel seems to think that I can offer my expertise somehow."

"Remember a few months ago, when you and Gabriel were looking for the Death Eater that burnt down the brownstone?"

I nodded.

"Because of a vision I sent Gabriel, you looked into a house where you killed two Death Eaters and found a collection of news clippings in the desk drawer," Haiden asked me. I was surprised she knew the details of that incident. I shouldn't be surprised; Haiden had many resources at her disposal. She could have had a vision of the incident, Voldemort could have told her, Benjamin could have told her, she could have easily read my mind or she simply could have just known. She had a tendency of knowing things she shouldn't. She was a great deal like her father, my half-brother Braven Drake, that way.

"Yes…" I wasn't sure where they were going with these points. A sinking feeling entered my stomach. I had almost forgotten about the weird events that had unfolded earlier in the year. "We were afraid that someone was after Carrigan."

"Well, they were," Benjamin said coolly as he stood up from the desk. He went to a filing cabinet and pulled open one of the draws. He took out a brown cardboard box the size of a shoebox and extended it to me. "One of the first things we did was go back to that flat and search it more thoroughly. We found these."

I looked down at the box and opened it slowly, weary of what I would find. Inside were news clippings and photos with people looking scared and grim in them. I fingered through them slowly, taking in the images carefully. There were at least one hundred clippings and pictures stored in the box of about eleven different women.

"Photos of each girl were hidden in different parts of the flat," Haiden said. "It's just pure luck that you happened to find where they were storing Carrigan's photos."

"These are of the eleven other kidnapping victims?"

"Yes," Benjamin nodded.

"But Gabriel and I killed the Death Eaters in the flat," I spoke slowly as I looked back down at the pictures. "Who carried out the plan if they were killed?"

"Anyone," Haiden shrugged. "Voldemort just need the twelve girls, it didn't matter who picked them up. Han and Jenson, the two you killed, were collecting information on the potential targets."

My blood curdled as I stared at Haiden. Rage was pumping through my system suddenly as I realized that she knew exactly what was going on here. She knew why Carrigan was taken. She was the new lead that Gabriel referred too. If he had known anything about this, when I saw him again, I was going to beat him up. How could he be so docile about Haiden helping us find Carrigan?

"Do you know why he needed twelve girls in ascending age?" I questioned as my voice shook. I closed the box carefully and replaced it in the drawer of the filing cabinet.

"He's looking for away to extend his mortality," Haiden shrugged. "That is what he is always looking for. His experiments failed on me. While I will live for a long time, the consequence of having multiple personalities doesn't appeal to Voldemort. He's looking for another way to become immortal."

I frowned and ran my hand through my hair. "Okay, I don't care about that so much," I said bluntly. "Do you know where they're keeping the girls? Where they're holding Carrigan?"

Haiden frowned. "I'm afraid not. I was not informed as to where they were keeping the girls. I committed myself at the end of June. I didn't want to be a part of it anymore."

"You left them? You left Carrigan there?" I retorted in anger.

"I was not going to be any good to them fighting internally with myself. I had to find a way to remain in control of my body so that Divinity could not intervene. I did not leave them behind, why do you think I am here now, helping you find them!?"

I ignored her and looked to Benjamin. "Really, we're no closer to finding them then we were before?"

Benjamin frowned. "We know why they were taken."

"That doesn't help get them back," I said cruelly. I ran my hand through my hair. "I'll see you later. Benjamin, you're still welcome at the house if you need somewhere to stay."

"Haiden and I will be alright," he said slowly as he looked at her. I watched how they glanced at each other and an uncomfortable feeling rose in my center. I didn't like that Benjamin seemed so trusting of Haiden. It made me very nervous, especially since Benjamin was just as paranoid as Gabriel or I. He wasn't the trusting type, so why did he trust Haiden?

I left them alone in the cubicle. As I made my way to the lift, I decided that I would walk around London some. I needed to clear my head before I made my way home for the night.

Benjamin's lead was a dud. Sure, now we knew why Voldemort needed twelve girls in ascending age, but it didn't help me find Carrigan any faster. I suppose I was hopeful to think that looking into experimental magic would prove fruitful. I hoped that it would lead us to a person—a Death Eater—that was responsible for the kidnappings. We needed to find someone who was alive and knew where the girls were being kept.

_Cadence._

Gabriel's voice in my head caught me off guard. I jumped and shook my head as I held my chest. He startled me. I hated it when people channeled me this way. It always made me feel like I was going a little crazy.

_Cadence, Henry is here to see you._

This caught my attention and I stood up straight. Henry Thrett was at the house to see me? It must have been important for him to visit the house this late at night. I hadn't seen Carrigan's friend since the end of the school year. He had come by the house just after we had moved in to inquire about the status of our search for Carrigan. He was just as eager as the rest of us to find her.

_I'm on my way home,_ I thought with all of my concentration on Gabriel. I'm sure the message got to him, but he didn't respond at all. Which was fine. As soon as the lift opened on the atrium floor of the Ministry, I stepped out and Disapparated.

I Apparated into the front sitting room of the farm house, which prompted Gabriel to enter the room from the kitchen with his wand raised. I smiled at him and lifted my hands up in surrender.

"Who is Carrigan's Guardian?" Gabriel asked.

"Benjamin Snow," I replied. "What is your daughter's name?"

"Jennifer."

I put my arms down as Gabriel lowered his wand.

"Henry is here?" I questioned with confusion.

"In the kitchen," Gabriel said with a nod. "He won't tell me what's on his mind. He insisted that we wait for you to get home."

I raised my eyebrows and moved around the sitting room furniture to get to the kitchen. Gabriel wrapped his arm around me and escorted me to the kitchen where candles were burning bathing the room in a generous amount of light.

Henry Thrett stood up from his seat at the kitchen table when he saw me enter the room. If it was possible, he looked taller and more muscular then he had a few months ago when I last saw him. He had cut his dark brown hair so short it was close to being shaved. His grey eyes looked serious and hard. I noticed a stunning tattoo on his forearm of a coat of arms. The knight's helmet was above a shield with three axes and three stars on it. I had to assume it was a family crest of some kind.

"Henry," I said breathlessly. "Gabriel made it sound urgent, is everything okay?"

"Yes, for the most part," he said honestly as we all took seats around the table. "I've been looking for Carrigan."

This didn't surprise me. Henry's parents were both dead. He was seventeen now, about to be a seventh year at Hogwarts, and his father had left him a generous amount of money to ensure his survival. He had bought a flat in London and was living on his own. There was no one to stop him from spending his summer searching for Carrigan.

"That doesn't surprise me," I replied. "Have you found something?"

"Yes," Henry said quickly. "I've been watching the LeStrange's home up north a bit. I was able to break in two nights ago when they left, which was odd. It's the first time I've seen them leave the house since I started watching them a month ago. I had to take the opportunity."

I was impressed. Henry was proving himself a reliable wizard. He would be an asset to the Order if he ever decided to join. I had asked him in June, but he said he wasn't ready. I thought that meant he was more interested in finding Carrigan then helping the Order.

"I was able to get into their cellar. It looks as though Carrigan was being held there with a few other people."

"Probably eleven," I said with a nod. "We believe that Carrigan has been kidnapped because of a ritualistic experiment that Voldemort is researching to become immortal. Whatever this experiment is, it requires twelve girls in ascending age. But why do you think Carrigan was in the cellar?"

"I found this," Henry reached into his cloak and pulled out a small silver griffin charm that belonged on a necklace or bracelet.

"That's Carrigan's?" I asked with surprise. I didn't recognized the charm. I studied it in my hands carefully, wondering who would have given it to her.

"I gave it to her," Henry admitted. "For her birthday this year. She is so fond of Horace, I thought it suited her."

I nodded my head. Horace, Carrigan's griffin that Gabriel had bought for her when she was starting at Hogwarts, was still at the school. He had remained there with Hagrid who could take better care of him then Gabriel or I.

"Next to the charm, in the dirt, was a symbol I'm not familiar with," Henry said. "Do you have some parchment?"

I snapped my fingers, conjuring a piece of parchment and a quill in front of Henry. He smiled slightly, caught off guard, by the subtle pop and random appearance of the writing utensils. He picked up the quill and quickly sketched a symbol onto the parchment.

"That's a fleur de lis," I said instantly with recognition. "That was in the dirt?"

"Yes," Henry nodded. "A fleur de lis? Isn't that a French symbol?"

"They've moved her to France," Gabriel said. "Out of the country. It will be more difficult for us to find her there. We're all searching here in England for all twelve girls. No one even considered that they'd be in a different country."

I was only excited and hopeful for a moment. Depression set in almost instantly. How were we going to find her in France? By the time we located her, she could be moved again. I frowned deeply and put my head in my hands. Why couldn't I just connect to her? Why couldn't she answer my calls?

"Cadence, was any of the extended Black family located in France?"

"What? I don't know," I said slowly.

"LeStrange would have moved the girls only to someone she trusted," Gabriel continued. "Someone close, like family." Gabriel turned and looked at Henry, but before he spoke, Henry stood up with a nod and finished his thought for him.

"I'll look into it," Henry said. "Thank you for seeing me."

"Thank you for coming to us," I said. Henry gave me a weak smile and nodded. He didn't say another word before he left the kitchen, showing himself out the front door.

"I'm going to go into the office," Gabriel said as he snatched up some parchment from the basket he kept in the corner of the countertop. He began to scribble a note on it. "Wake Kingsley and get him in there too. This is a big lead and we'll have a lot of follow up on."

"Benjamin is still there, make sure you tell him too," I said. I looked at Gabriel over my shoulder. "Did you know he went to Haiden?"

Gabriel stopped writing and looked at me. "What?"

"I guess not," I whispered.

"That's what his lead was. She's in the office with him. They must be staying together," I whispered. "She says that it's an experiment to extend Voldemort's life, since Cepheus failed."

"Alright," Gabriel said slowly as he approached me. "Benjamin thinks he can find her by finding out what they need for the ritual, I understand that thought process."

"Do you understand him going to Haiden?"

"Yes," Gabriel touched my shoulders. "She's the only one still alive that would know the answers to his questions."

"We can't trust her," I said immediately with a harsh tone. "What if this was Voldemort's plan all along? What if he planted Talon and set her up for this next research project when Cepheus failed?"

"You think this has been a plot years in the making?"

"I think that Voldemort is smart. He plans and he is ready for the next move," I said strongly. "He would be prepared for Cepheus to fail. He would have a back up plan. When I first met Penelope, it was only a year or so after Haiden had been taken. When she reappeared, Voldemort was about to return. She set up a relationship with me and Carrigan. Carrigan trusted her. Their plan fell apart when Penelope was called to stay with Voldemort just before he returned and then I killed her. That is why it took him a year to get it back on track. He's always planned on taking Carrigan, just like I was afraid he would."

"You can't blame yourself," Gabriel said as he kissed my neck.

"Can't I?" I said instantly looking at him in disbelief.

"You did all you could, and now you're doing all you can. We will find her, Cadence," Gabriel said with reassurance. "I know we will."

I nodded, even though in that moment I didn't believe him. He kissed my cheek again and moved away from me to finish his note to Kingsley Shacklebolt. "I'm heading into the office. Do you want to come with me?"

"No," I replied. "I won't be of any use."

"What are you going to do here?"

"I don't know," I said slowly. "Go for a run, or something…"

"Alright," Gabriel squeezed my shoulder before leaving the kitchen and heading upstairs to get dressed. He said good-bye to me one more time before he left for the Ministry. He was dressed smartly in a grey suit, with matching waistcoat and a royal blue button up shirt and black tie.

"Gabriel," I said grabbing his hand before he moved away from the kitchen table. He looked down at me with raised eyebrows. "I love you." I squeezed his hand tightly. He smiled at me and bent his head down, kissing me delicately. I returned his kiss with a fierce passionate one. He smiled against my lips and stroked my hair.

"I love you too," he whispered, then pulled away.

As soon as he was gone, I stood up from the table and Disapparate from my spot. I Apparated to a field in northern England. I was surrounded by darkness and the hot summer breeze blowing against the skin on my arms gave me goose bumps. In the distance, north of where I stood, I could see a mansion standing tall against the moonlight. I took one-step forward, causing twigs of dried grass and straw to crunch under my feet.

"Don't move!" shouted a male voice. I froze immediately as a circle of dark figures appeared around me from the tall grass. All were dressed in Death Eater cloaks and masks. They were brandishing their wands at me, as I expected they would. I smirked as I raised my hands.

"Well, well, well," said the Death Eater that had yelled at me to freeze. He was stalking towards me, breaking from his place in the circle. "If it isn't Cadence Coleman. Or should I call you Kieran? Welcome home, princess."

My skin crawled with discomfort when the Death Eater called me by the name Voldemort had given me. Then, when he called me 'princess,' my blood boiled and I wanted to punch his face in. I remained calm though. Fighting now wouldn't get me close to Voldemort.

"Happy to be here," I said calmly. "Will you take me to my father?"

The Death Eater laughed. "Why would you want to see him? Come to join our ranks?"

"I have an offer for him," I retorted. "Take me to see him, or I'll kill you and find someone else to take me to him."

The Death Eater stopped laughing. "It doesn't really work that way, princess. No one requests an audience with the Dark Lord. You go to him if he wants to see you."

"He'll want to see me," I pressed. "Take me to him. I'm going to start counting. When I reach five, I'm going to vaporize this field. I'm sure you've heard stories of how I can do that."

I hoped he bought my bluff. I had never been able to use my physical powers and energy on command like that. Usually, it just happened when I got angry or was under distress.

The Death Eater didn't say anything to my comment, so I began to count. "One…two…"

"She's bluffing," called another Death Eater from the circle.

"…three…"

"I don't know, I would take her. What's the worse that could happen?"

"He could kill us!" said another sharply.

"…four…"

"Shut up!" snapped the Death Eater in front of me. He turned to me and grabbed my upper arm. "Fine."

I smiled triumphantly at his masked fact. "Let's go," I said sternly.


	11. Lucky Night

I was escorted to the house that had stood in the dark distance of the field. Upon entering the house, I was lead to an unoccupied sitting room, where the door was promptly shut and I presumed locked. The room was decorated in shades of dark mahogany wood, rich emerald green fabrics and black and silver accents. There was no doubt in mind that I was in Bellatrix Lestrange's house.

I admit, I didn't think my plan through. It was impulsive and foolish, but I felt it was the only option I had left. The only place left to go was directly to the source. I felt so helpless and desperate to find Carrigan that I was ready to do anything to get her back, even if that meant confronting my father.

As I stood in the sitting room, looking around at the ornate furniture and décor, I prepared myself for the fact that I may never leave the room again. It was very possible that I was going to die in this room. I gazed out the window as the thought pondered in my mind. Gabriel was going to kill me when I got home if Voldemort didn't kill me here.

The door to the sitting room opened and I turned on my heel with some surprise. A tall, dark man entered the room, looking me up and down with curious eyes. I was bewildered to see anyone but my father enter the room. I crossed my arms over my chest as the man closed the door and turned to face me.

He was a massive man. At least six feet, four inches, he strode across the room towards me with long footsteps. He was muscular, broad shouldered; his stature was imposing to say the least. He came to stand in front of me, studying me with dark grey eyes that matched his long graying hair, which was a contrast against his dark tanned skin. He wore traditional Death Eater robes, but no mask.

"Unless you've had fantastic plastic surgery, you are not my father," I snapped.

"My name is Dorian Levette," he said in a delicate French accent that made my senses spike up instantly. "I understand you wish to speak to your father?"

"What are you, his secretary?" I questioned sarcastically. "Censoring his appointments now?"

"Your sarcasm is noted, Kieran," Levette said with a bow of his head. His politeness was misleading to me. I took a step back as he continued to stare me straight in the eye. "But, you must know that it is not that simple. You can't just Apparate into a field, get caught by Death Eaters and demand to see the Dark Lord, father or not."

"So, you're not going to take me to him?"

"The Dark Lord does not answer to you, Kieran," Levette's voice had grown stern. "If he wishes to see you, he will come."

"Well, I don't have all day to wait around. If he's not coming, I'm leaving."

Dorian smiled. "You didn't honestly think you'd be leaving here when you came, did you?"

"Do you really think I would be willingly caught by Death Eaters, if I didn't have a plan to escape?" I bluffed.

"You're a terrible liar, princess."

I didn't hesitate. I balled my fist and socked Dorian Levette straight across the face, slamming him in the jaw viciously. He took the hit and stumbled backwards, but did not fall to the floor. He laughed as he regained his composure and fixed his robe.

"The rumors of your short temper are true," he smirked. "You're a great deal like your father."

"I suppose tempers are hereditary," I retorted ignoring the insult. I didn't want Levette to realize how deeply his words hurt; I was _nothing_ like my father. If he knew how much he perturbed me, or angered me, it would only make him happier.

"Yes, they must be. Your daughter is just as short tempered," he commented. I froze, glaring at him. He was teasing me. He knew why I had come and why I wanted to see Voldemort. He was mentioning Carrigan to tease me into letting my guard down.

"I raised her well."

"Well, Kieran," he sighed with boredom, ignoring my comment as if I hadn't spoken. He was not going to give anything else away concerning Carrigan. "While I do find your presence charming, I have other matters to attend to. What is it that you want?"

"You really have to ask?" I said surprised. "I came to speak to my father."

"Other then that, Kieran. You try my patients. What did you want to speak to the Dark Lord about?"

I raised my eyebrows. Something wasn't right. It had to be obvious what I wanted to speak to Voldemort about. "I want to speak to him about the twelve girls he's kidnapped, specially my daughter!"

It was Dorian Levette's turn to look surprised, but he recovered quickly and smirked. "I'm not sure what sort of game you're playing, Kieran."

"Excuse me?"

"She hasn't made it home yet," Levette whispered with realization. He smirked and nodded his head as he turned his eyes away from me. I raised my eyebrows in surprise at him.

"Yet?" I questioned confused.

"Your daughter escaped a week ago," Levette said matter-of-factly, looking back to me. His grey eyes were so blank and stern looking they caused my heart to skip a beat.

A hole formed in my stomach; I was full of ambivalence, joy and fear at the same time. Carrigan had escaped Voldemort, but she wasn't home yet. What if she had been recaptured? What if she was lost in France somewhere? What if Dorian Levette was lying?

"When you were moving her to France," I muttered as I looked up at Levette.

"That is very presumptuous of you, Kieran."

I bit my lip with aggravation as my mind raced with more questions then answers. Levette was being evasive and annoying. He wasn't going to help me and I certainly did not expect him to take me to my father. It was obvious that Voldemort wasn't willing to see me, which spoke volumes about his cowardice.

It didn't matter. There was nothing left at the house for me. In my opinion, the conversation with Dorian Levette was over. I looked up at Levette with dark eyes, he lunged for his wand because he could tell I was going to try something. He didn't have a chance. In my rage of disappointment because he wasn't any help to me, I imagined his body burning before me. Within a matter of seconds, Levette's body erupted in hot red flames—he cried out instantly and plunged down to the ground, where he began to roll, trying to put out the fire that was engulfing him.

I didn't wait. I pivoted, as my cloak billowed around me, and dashed for the front window of the sitting room. I jumped through it, holding my arms over my face as I broke through the glass. I tumbled into the flowerbed outside of the window and rolled to the ground. There was a terrible pop and searing pain in my shoulder, which made me groan as I stood up from the dirt and roses. I didn't look back and began to ran away from the house. I didn't stop until I was in the field and sure that I was far enough from the house to not be blocked from Disapparating.

_Thank Merlin that worked, _I thought as I ran away. I could feel the heat of the flames overtaking the house on my back as I moved away. It had been years, maybe even decades, since I had conjured fire. The fact that I was able to do it so quickly was a pleasing surprise. It seemed the night was lucky.

When I turned back to look at the house, which was now engrossed in flames on the first floor, I saw a dark skinny figure standing in front of it as it burned. The red eyes of my father were unmistakable, even in the darkness. I held my breath and turned away from the sight.

When I turned away, I ran straight into the firm body of someone in the darkness. I fell back onto the ground of the field and looked up in horrified shock at my father who had silently appeared in front of me as I turned my back on his burning hideout.

"You never cease to surprise me, Kieran," Voldemort said in his high-pitched voice. It was the first time my father had addressed me since he tied me to a tombstone and used my blood to return to power over a year ago. "You continue to be a thorn in my side. You kill all of my best Death Eaters, now you've killed Levette, who was most important to me, and burnt down Bella's house…"

"You shouldn't have kidnapped my daughter," I spat. "That was your mistake."

"I don't make mistakes," Voldemort waved his hand in front of me. Magically, something invisible clasped around my throat, pressing my windpipe. I thrashed around at my neck, trying to break free of the invisible force as it choked me. I was lifted from the ground, as if Voldemort was picking me up by the throat, and held in front of him. He lifted his hand in the air slightly, effortlessly lifting me off the ground with his magic. "Bringing Ciar home was necessary."

"Ciar?" I choked. "Is that what you call her, you sick bastard?"

His invisible grip tightened on my throat as I dangled in the air in front of him, squirming like a worm on a hook, caught and unable to get free. My mind raced as I desperately thought of a way that I could get out of this situation.

Voldemort lowered his arm and dropped me out of the air. I crumbled onto the ground in front of him and landed harshly only my dislocated shoulder that I had cracked when I escaped the house. Voldemort stepped forward, his black robe billowing as he moved, and roughly stomped his booted foot down onto my injured shoulder. I cried out and fell back under his foot.

"You're not going to get out of this situation," Voldemort hissed as he pulled out his wand. He took two steps back as he continued to talk. I withered on my back on the ground, glaring at him as he moved away from me. My mind was racing, perhaps my luck had run out; my body raged at me though. I couldn't just lay down and die. I had to get up and fight for my life, for Carrigan. "Ciar escaped while she was being moved to France. You were right, but you were foolish to come here. Ciar is mine now."

"HER NAME IS CARRIGAN!" I screamed as I pulled my wand and sat up. "And she'll never be yours!"

The next few things happened simultaneously. There was a loud cracking and thumping sound and the earth shook beneath me as Voldemort lunged forward screaming, "_Avada Kedavra!_"

But a figure had appeared between my father and I, and the green killing curse parted around the new arrival. I had only seen something like that happen once before; my mouth dropped open as I stood up, clutching my arm against my chest so my shoulder wouldn't move. Voldemort was caught off guard and stood, frozen with cold fear in his red eyes as he looked at the figure in front of me. The figure, who I did not recognize from behind, clapped their hands together. A large blue ball of glowing energy grew in front of them and they threw it straight at Voldemort. It hit him straight in the chest and sent him flying backwards one hundred feet.

The figure turned, their black leather cloak, which I recognized as Sirius Black's, dramatically twirled around them.

"Mom!"

I didn't even recognize the figure as Carrigan as she dashed to me. She was taller and her head was completely shaven. At first glance, I would have guessed she was a teenage boy. But when she got closer, I saw her eyes and knew it was her. Her beautiful, almond shaped, dark midnight blue eyes were twinkle at me.

"We have to get out of here!"

There was no time to speak. My mouth opened slightly to say something to her as she grabbed me, but no words came out. Carrigan looked over her shoulder in the direction that Voldemort had gone flying, then back at me. Without another comment, she squeezed my arm and closed her eyes. We Disapparated with a loud crack!


	12. Sinister Creature

Our feet hit the floor of a dark, abandoned building. I stepped back and looked around; my eyes took in the destruction that we stood in and I instantly recognized the half-burnt down building as the brownstone, where Gabriel and I had lived earlier in the year before it was destroyed by a Death Eater. I looked at Carrigan and smiled; the fact that she could Apparate and Disapparate was something I would worry about later. She looked at me with happiness and stepped forward to hug me. I grabbed her by the shoulder with my good arm to look her straight in the eye.

"What is your middle name?"

"Arista," Carrigan replied as she beamed at me.

"Why did I marry your godfather?"

"Because you thought he was going to die," she replied.

I nodded as my lips spread into a wide smile. It was her. It was really Carrigan. She was safe and standing in front of me. "Now you have to ask me."

Carrigan rolled her eyes. "Actually, I don't. I can read your mind right now and I know it's you. I can hear all of your thoughts and your deepest worries. Why are you afraid that Haiden is tricking Ben?"

"Don't worry about that, humor me and ask me a question!"

"What did I ask for Christmas from father, that we agreed would be my fifteenth birthday gift?" she asked slowly.

"A tattoo of a snake's head stabbed by a spear," I replied. I smiled and pulled Carrigan against my body for a one armed embrace as tears welled up in my eyes. "I am so sorry, Carrigan," I whispered as I cried. "I'm sorry it took me so long to find you."

"I knew you would eventually," she responded. "Forgive me, I was just tired of waiting."

"I don't blame you," I said. "I'll never forgive myself for letting you out of my sight."

"It's okay, Mom," she whispered. "I'm back…"

I stepped back to look at her more closely. She was taller then she had been the last time I saw her, or maybe she just appeared taller because it had been so long since I had seen her. I could feel how muscular and lean she was when I held her. Her eyes looked bright, not broken, despite the terrifying experience she had just survived. Her shaved head actually looked good, but it didn't suit her; it made her look like she was recovering from a terrible ordeal, which she would be now, but Carrigan's eyes didn't look like she was recovering.

"How are you?" I whispered as I stroked her bald head. I rubbed her shoulder and smiled at her.

Carrigan frowned, but said, "I'm better now."

Her answer was unsettling, but I accepted it and pulled her into my arm again. I cringed as her weight pressed against my injured shoulder. She pulled back and looked at it. "We need to get you back to Gabriel, he'll be able to set it for you. Where are you two living now?"

"Gabriel built a house for us," I whispered. "We should go there. Someone might be able to find us here in the open. Then, we'll discuss everything that just happened."

"Alright," Carrigan nodded. "Does Gabriel know you went to Voldemort like that?"

"How'd you know I went there?"

"I told you, I can read your thoughts. I know you went there impulsively without a plan…which Gabriel is going to be pretty upset about."

"And how is it that you knew I was there, about to be killed?" I questioned as I ignored her comment about Gabriel being upset. Of course, he was going to be upset with me. When wasn't he?

Carrigan sighed as she looked at me. "I will explain when we get to the house."

I nodded. "Come on, I'll Apparate."

Carrigan smiled as she stepped closer to me and laid her head on my good shoulder. "Let's go home," she whispered. I smiled and kissed her forehead before Disapparating out of the destroyed remains of the brownstone.

I Apparated us straight into the foyer of the farmhouse. Carrigan stepped back and looked around with surprise.

"Gabriel built this?"

"Yes," I replied softly as I tried to remove my cloak. "He's very good with his hands."

Before Carrigan could make a cheeky retort, the sound of footsteps thundering down the staircase drew our attention. Gabriel appeared at the base of the stairs, his wand drawn, pointing it directly at me and Carrigan, who stood behind me, shielded from view. He was still dressed in his suit. He must have arrived home a few minutes ago and was worried that I wasn't home.

"Where the bloody hell have you been!?" Gabriel shouted at me.

"Gabe!" Carrigan cried excitedly as she stepped out from behind me with her arms open for an embrace. Gabriel looked at her in surprised shock and disbelief. He smiled and stepped down the last stair into the foyer, his wand still pointed at me.

"The tattoo on my chest," he said to me. "What does it mean?"

"It says 'rhythm,' I said smoothly. "It's the meaning of my name, 'Cadence.' I think it means you love me or something."

"And you," he pointed his wand at Carrigan, despite smiling at her. "What did I teach you when you lived in Maine?"

"Lots of things," Carrigan shrugged. "But most notably, how to use the banister to jump and walk across the wall at the bottom of the stairs."

Gabriel dropped his wand and instantly grabbed Carrigan, pulling her into a tight embrace. He pulled back just far enough to kiss her forehead. After holding her for a few seconds, he opened his arms and pulled me into the hug as well. "Thank Merlin, you're both safe."

I smiled despite the pain of my shoulder being pinched against Carrigan and Gabriel's bodies. "Gabriel," I sighed pulling away. Carrigan stepped back.

"Oh! Her shoulder! It's dislocated," Carrigan said ushering me down the hall into the kitchen. I took a seat at the table as Carrigan moved out the way and waited for Gabriel to look at my shoulder. He helped me out of my cloak and touched my shoulder gently. I squirmed with discomfort each time he pinched me.

"I just have to set it," he whispered. "Ready?"

I bit my lip. "Yes," I nodded. Gabriel placed one hand on my collarbone and the other on my upper arm.

"What were you doing that you dislocated your arm?" he asked.

"Really? You want to discuss this now? Don't you think it should wait until after you've set—AHHH!"

Gabriel had forced the shoulder back into the socket mid-sentence, causing me to scream in agony. He released my arm gentle, cradling it against my stomach. I punched him in the shoulder in anger, which made him laugh.

"What were you doing?"

"I jumped out of a window at Lestrange's house trying to escape some Death Eaters," I hissed like an injured snake. "Voldemort caught up to me and Carrigan saved my ass."

"As usual," Carrigan said matter-of-factly from across the table. Gabriel gave her a smile before turning his attention back to me.

"What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking, thank you," I snapped back. "I was acting on instinct. Going straight to my father is the only thing we haven't done to get Carrigan back. It seemed like a pretty good idea."

"A pretty good idea?" Gabriel repeated in anger. "You're a bloody idiot! You're still running around this country destroying everything in your path—"

"She's home now, isn't she! I think destroying everything in my path worked out pretty well!"

"Stop yelling," Carrigan sighed from across the table. "Is this all you two do now? Fight?"

"Yes," Gabriel said quickly. He looked back at me with a charming, half-cocked smile. "But it's what we've always done, Carrigan. There is no need to worry."

He pinched my cheek affectionately, which I slapped away. I stuck out my tongue at him. He rolled his eyes at me before looking to Carrigan.

"Are you hungry?"

"No," she said simply. She began to take off her cloak, which had been a gift from Sirius last Christmas. She was wearing a black long sleeve thermal and black skinny jeans that tucked into her boots. She looked thin, but not fragile.

"You look sinister," Gabriel commented as she hung her cloak on the back of a kitchen table.

"You don't know the half of it," she said as she took her seat. There was no joking tone to her statement, which made my stomach clench with uneasiness.

"Do you want to tell us what happened?"

Carrigan nodded her head slowly. "I do," she looked at me and reached across the table, taking my hand and squeezing it tight. "First, how many people know I was taken?"

I frowned. "Everyone. Your kidnapping was published in the paper, despite us trying to stop it."

"The series of kidnappings you were caught up in is a high profile and active case, Carri," Gabriel said as he took a seat at the table with us. "There wasn't much we could do to stop it from hitting the papers."

Carrigan nodded very slowly and closed her eyes. "The other eleven girls are dead," she whispered. "They were killed before I was moved to Paris."

My stomach rolled with discomfort and I frowned deeply. Gabriel glanced at me with sullen eyes. He would have to notify the families of the girls. "I'll let them know in the morning. It doesn't hurt to give them the rest of the night to hope."

I nodded and looked back to Carrigan. "How did you escape?"

"They thought I was weak, they only had two Death Eaters escorting me to Paris. I killed them and made a run for it," she shrugged and made the statement so blankly that it was chilling. "I hid in the subway tunnels in Paris for a few days, because I was weak. Once I felt strong enough I Apparated to the brownstone…it was the only place I could think of to go. I wanted to find you and Gabriel before anyone else."

"How did you find me?" I asked carefully.

"Hold on," Gabriel said quickly. "How come you can Apparate?"

"They taught me," Carrigan said slowly and sadly. She released my hand and rubbed her arms to comfort herself while looking Gabriel straight in the eye. "They taught me so much….Gabriel, I could probably take the Auror's Entrance Exam and get a job at the Ministry. My training is complete. I no longer need a Guardian…" Her voice trailed off as she looked down at the table.

"Your training is complete?" Gabriel shook his head. "I don't understand, how is that possible when Benjamin is your Guardian?"

Carrigan blinked at Gabriel for a moment, then sat back in her chair and looked around the room. She lifted her left hand off the surface of the table, palm to the ceiling, slowly. Gabriel and I watched in awe as she made every loose object in the kitchen float up into the air. Dirty and wet dishes hovered over the sink. A bowl of a fruit, the cookie jar and it's contents, cooking utensils and pieces of parchment and quills floated uselessly over the counter tops. The chairs we weren't sitting in around the table lifted up off the floor.

Carrigan lowered her hand back down onto the table, but the objects didn't move. They continued to float in the air as if gravity no longer existed in the kitchen.

"How did you find me?" I repeated my question as a piece of parchment floated by my face. I swatted at it, trying to move it away from me.

"When I got to the brownstone, I concentrated on you, tried to find you with my mind. I heard you cry out my name. I just Apparated to you."

"Impressive," Gabriel said as he looked around the room. "You've gained completely control of your mental abilities? And your telekinesis? Who taught you to handle your magic? Who taught you to Apparate?"

"His name was Dorian Levette," she said slowly. I could see that she was holding something back, which caused me to frown. "He taught me everything…my telekinesis is fine. I could be stronger at it, but I have complete control of it now."

"I've never heard of him," Gabriel said with a shake of his head. "Are you sure that was his real name?"

Carrigan shrugged as she diverted her attention to the chairs that were floating against the ceiling over our heads. "I suppose it could have been an alias. I think he was a relative of Bellatrix Lestrange…which I suppose makes him my distant relative too. But, he was the one who trained me. He wasn't powerful like me at all. He just taught me how to manage my body, my mind and my emotions." She looked away from the chairs on the ceiling and straight at Gabriel, then blinked and everything that had been floating in the kitchen came clamoring down to the floor. She snapped her fingers, instantly causing all of the debris and loose objects to go back to their original place as if they hadn't been disturbed at all. "He was the one who encouraged me that I was strong enough to escape. He told me when and where would be the best time to do it…he helped me…"

"Carrigan," I whispered softly. She looked at me with relatively calm eyes, waiting for me to speak. "He died in the fire I started at the Lestrange's house just before you saved me."

Carrigan frowned deeply as she sat back in her chair, but said nothing.

"Why were you the only one being moved to France?" Gabriel asked, forcing the conversation back on track. Carrigan blinked and looked up at him with a distant stare. She looked more pained then before, if that was possible. The news of Levette's death seemed to bother her a great deal, though she did not vocalize those feelings.

"When I asked Levette that, he said because I was the only one who had a purpose anymore. The other girls had served their purpose."

"And what was that?" I ask slowly. Carrigan looked at me with piercing eyes, so sharp that my heart skipped a beat.

"Twelve strong witches from pure blood families in ascending age," she recited carefully. "May the strongest over take the others' blood, she will be found by the twelfth's blood for it does not lie. Immortality waits the strongest if she survives."

The room fell silent for a moment. "What does that mean?" I whispered.

"I am the strongest," Carrigan shrugged.

"Are you immortal?"

"No," she whispered with a shake of her head as if the notion were absolutely ridiculous. "Immortality is a myth. It can not be created with magic, though we can come close. _Unciarius Caedes Immortalis_, or the Twelfth Immortal Blood, ceremony, is an ancient dark magic ritual believed to foster immortality. But it doesn't really, I promise I can die just as quickly now as I could before."

"How does the ritual work?" Gabriel asked carefully.

"Calliope, the Twelfth as they called her because she was the oldest and last one taken, was killed instantly after she arrived. Her blood is used to weed out the strongest of the rest of us. It wasn't fair at all…she didn't have a chance…" Carrigan's voice faded as her eyes grew dark. "They put her blood into our systems. They used IVs. Seven of the girls died from the transfusion within days. It was horrific to watch. It took days for their insides to eat away at them. The blood spread through their entire body and made them boil from the insides out. The entire time I was sitting there waiting for it to happen to me, but it never did. Three other girls and I remained a week after the transfusion; Bernie, she was the youngest and only ten. Holly had just turned thirteen before she was kidnapped. I recognized her from Hogwarts. She was about to be a third year. And Rebecca, she was twenty."

Carrigan grew silent suddenly and looked down at the table.

"What happened to the other girls?"

"We started training with Levette," she continued once I had asked the question. "Bernie had the hardest time, not because she was the youngest, but she was physically weak. She died a week later from the blood transfusion. It had just taken more time with her. Rebecca died trying to escape. She had grown close to Bernie, seeing her die drove her over the edge. A Death Eater used the killing curse on her when she escaped, right in front of Holly and me. Voldemort had him killed that evening because we weren't supposed to be murdered like that. It was still possible that Rebecca was the strongest of us all…Levette continued to train Holly and I, then last week he said we were going to France after training one night. He sent us back to our room and said that they would let us shower to prepare for the trip there. They came and got Holly first, but she never came back. I didn't think much of it until after I had taken my shower and we were leaving. Holly wasn't there and Levette explained that she had served her purpose."

The room fell silent after Carrigan's chilling story. She ran her fingers along the edge of the table, keeping her mind at ease. She looked up abruptly. "The thing is, I wasn't stronger then her. They choose me at the end of it. I'm starting to think the ritual was all a bunch of bullshit. It was a test to make sure I could handle it and possibly, to make me so angry that I killed someone the way that Voldemort would want me to. He just wanted me to be on his side…"

"You don't know that," I whispered shaking my head, even though it was likely. "He could have been using you for part of the ritual to find a way for him to become immortal."

"But it didn't make me immortal," Carrigan shot back angrily. She put her arm on the table and pulled back the sleeve of her shirt. My heart plummeted when my eyes fell on the dark snake and skull tattoo that was inked on her small, fourteen year old, arm. I put my hand over my mouth and bit down on it. "They give me this. They gave me the Dark Mark. They thought they had succeeded in making me a Death Eater."

Gabriel and I said nothing; there was nothing that either of us could think to say to Carrigan. After the initial shock, my body started to course with red-hot rage. How dare Voldemort mark Carrigan with that disgusting symbol of his followers and believers? How dare he touch her and damage her purity?

"Kidnapping eleven girls had nothing to do with seeking immortality," Carrigan insisted in her angry tone. "It was all a means to prepare me to become a Death Eater. Just training me to kill wasn't enough. He had to make me mad enough to want to kill him. To use the killing curse…he had to break me by showing me how evil dark magic can be."

"How did you kill the two Death Eaters that were taking you to France?" Gabriel asked calmly.

"I didn't use the killing curse," Carrigan said immediately.

"But how?" I pushed with nervousness.

"I stabbed one in the chest and broke the other's neck," she replied coldly. "I didn't use magic. I did what you two and Benjamin taught me, not Levette or Voldemort."

"Good," Gabriel sighed. "Good, Carrigan. It's not an easy thing to do, making the choice to take another person's life. But if you did it that way then it will be easier to live with."

"Are you kidding?" Carrigan replied. "Those two were the one's who hooked up the IVs that killed eight of the girls I was kidnapped with. I was going to kill them whether I escaped or not. _It was an easy choice_."

Her voice was like ice; so cold and indifferent. The only emotion she felt was rage and a desperate desire for revenge. All of her feelings were justified, but I had never felt them. I could not imagine how she felt. As I watched her sitting across from me, my heart clenched and I held my breath. Carrigan was home, but it was just as I feared, she was not the same person. My pure hearted little girl who was eager to fight and scared of what lay ahead was gone. A dark, sinister creature that was sure to leave a trail of destruction in her path had replaced her.


	13. The Strongest

The bedroom ceiling was particularly interesting to me that evening. I knew I wasn't fooling anyone when I agreed with Gabriel that it was time we all got some rest. I wasn't going to sleep. There was too much on my mind; too many different things.

"Cadence," Gabriel said my name softly as he lay next to me. He was also lying on his back facing the ceiling with his hands folded on his torso. I turned my head to look at him. He kept his eyes on the ceiling, not looking at me and exhaled slowly. I turned to face the ceiling again.

"Don't say it."

"We're both thinking it," he replied. "And when she gets in front of Dumbledore or the Order they will say it. They will not hold reserves to their doubt simply because she is your daughter."

"But she is my daughter. I know her. Carrigan is not a Death Eater."

"If anything, being that she is Voldemort's granddaughter will lead them to suspect her even more, just as they suspected you."

"The Order has never suspected me."

"You don't have a Dark Mark."

His words stung like venomous poison from a snake. I closed my eyes and took a calming breath so I didn't burst out in anger at him.

"You have a Dark Mark."

"And I _was_ a Death Eater," Gabriel said. "Voldemort doesn't tie people down and force them to follow him. He doesn't blackmail them to be Death Eaters. That wouldn't make him stronger, that would put weakness and spies in his ranks. No, he does not make you a Death Eater unless you want to be one."

"What if she feared for her life? What if that was one of the tests of her training before Holly died?"

"She didn't say it was a test," Gabriel whispered sadly. He paused before continuing. I knew he was choosing his words carefully. "She was right, they were going to pick her all along. It didn't matter what the other girls did. They wanted to condition Carrigan to be so angry with your father that she did become a true follower of dark magic by using the Unforgivable Curses or even other means. Even if it was against him, it meant that he would have taken something good and destroyed it. He would have crippled you and the future of our fight if he converted Carrigan to dark magic."

"And you think he may have?"

"I think it's something we should carefully consider."

"I think Carrigan is smart," I said coldly. "I think she would have played along with his damned game to ensure her survival. If that meant vowing to be a Death Eater, fine, but in her heart she is not. She would not have come home to us if her place was with Voldemort."

"Unless he told her too," Gabriel whispered sadly.

"I do recall a time that you served him—"

"You know he blackmailed me to save Sirius and Alessandro's life, so don't try to play that card," Gabriel cut in quickly. In some sense, deep down within me, I still felt betrayed by what Gabriel had done years ago to save Sirius and his cousin, Alessandro's, life. To me, his situation then and Carrigan's now were comparable and the card was certainly worth playing.

"And what if by becoming a Death Eater, Carrigan is saving all of our lives? Mine, yours, even Harry's?"

"You know that Voldemort would never offer a deal that protected Harry. Harry is the one person in the entire world that he absolutely wants dead," Gabriel said with a condescending tone. "Except for you, maybe."

"Thanks," I hissed sarcastically.

"Has it not occurred to you how much it would hurt our side if Carrigan has been turned?" I was silent because I did not know where he was going with his questions. "It would weaken our side catastrophically. If Carrigan adopts dark magic it would destroy you and Harry, the two people strong enough to defeat Voldemort. To see Carrigan, probably the best of us next to Harry, fall to Voldemort and dark magic; to see her make the choice to be evil and a follower of the dark arts…it would destroy us all. If the best of us can fall to evil, who is to say we all can't or won't?"

Gabriel's voice rang in my eyes once he fell silent. Everything he said was true and shook me in the core, making me ache with fear. Before I could answer though, there was a sharp knock on the bedroom door.

"Yes," I called, thankful for the distraction from our conversation.

The door opened a crack and Carrigan poked her head into the room. "If you two are done talking about me, Benjamin and Haiden are about to ring the doorbell. I don't think they'll believe it's me…although, it doesn't seem you two do either…"

I sat up and threw the sheets off my body while giving Gabriel a nasty glare. Of course, Carrigan had heard everything we were saying. She was a fantastic ease-dropper before she had telekinetic powers; with those powers controlled now, she had no problem listening into our conversations from rooms away.

"I'm sorry, Carri," Gabriel whispered, looking truly ashamed. It was clear to me that despite his words, he didn't want them to be true.

"Don't worry, I understand," she replied, though her blue eyes betrayed her true feelings. She was hurt by his doubt. "Now I know how you felt when Mom didn't trust you before the Potter's died."

"Well, you're mother's pride was what was truly injured. She always trusted me, in her heart," Gabriel said getting out of the bed after me.

"And what does your heart say about me?" Carrigan asked as she stepped into the room completely.

The doorbell chimed from downstairs, alerting us to Benjamin and Haiden's arrival, just as Carrigan had said. Neither of us questioned how Carrigan new that our guests were arriving. I pulled on a sweatshirt as I looked at Gabriel with high eyebrows. He sighed and approached Carrigan. He stood before her, just in his pajama bottoms, and brushed his hand over her baldhead as if he were brushing the long brown locks that she used to have behind her ear.

Carrigan stared up at him with wide almond shaped midnight blue eyes, waiting patiently for him to answer her. His hand rested on the crook of her neck, just over her collarbone. She was still wearing her black long sleeve thermal, but had changed into cotton shorts, which revealed her pale, thin but muscularly toned legs.

"It says that you're still pure, despite the evil you've seen," he whispered.

Carrigan beamed and embraced him tightly. "We all have darkness inside of us, Gabriel. It shows itself from time to time."

Gabriel nodded as he glanced at me with an apologetic smile on his lips. The doorbell chimed again, twice in quick secession because Benjamin and Haiden were growing impatient. I moved past Gabriel and Carrigan, squeezing Carrigan's elbow affectionately and made my way downstairs.

Just as I arrived at the base of the stairs in the foyer the doorbell rang once again. I grabbed the doorknob and squeezed my wand tightly in my hand. I was ready to strike if I needed to.

"Who is it?"

"Benjamin Snow," Benjamin's deep voice replied through the door.

"And Haiden Drake."

I sighed with apprehension. What question could I ask Haiden that would confirm who she was? Her memory had been altered so many times I doubted she remembered the first time we met face to face. And even if she did answer the security question correctly, who was to say that I wasn't actually letting Divinity into my home?

"Benjamin," I said his name softly. "Who is your mother?" Perhaps it was a low blow, but it was the first question that popped into my head.

"Savanna Snow," he replied uneasily. "The last time we trained you asked me about what?"

"Your hair."

"Correct. Do you have a question for Haiden?"

"Who is your father?"

"Braven Drake," Haiden replied dreamily. "He died though."

I bit my bottom lip with apprehension as I pulled open the front door. "Please explain why you're beating on my door at two in the morning?"

"I felt like coming home," Benjamin said sorely as he moved into the foyer. Haiden followed closely behind and looked around with a comfortable smile. She kept her cloak on as Benjamin removed his.

"You're not that forgiving," I sighed as I crossed my arms. "What is so important?"

"We've made some headway," Benjamin said with a slow exhaling breath. "I thought you would like to know."

"Funny, I've made some headway of my own," I said as I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I turned to look up at Carrigan and Gabriel who were descending the stairs quietly.

"What sort of—" Benjamin stopped mid-sentence as his eyes fell on Carrigan who led Gabriel down the stairs. Silence had fallen when she arrived on the first floor landing, standing only a few feet from Benjamin who was looking at her as if she weren't real.

Not a word was spoken.

Benjamin slowly took a step forward as he reached out to Carrigan who was simply staring at him. Her expression looked happy, but she was not smiling. They both stood silently staring at each other as if the rest of us didn't exist. An awkward cloud fell in the foyer of the house, leaving everyone feeling as if we were watching a painful reunion.

Benjamin touched Carrigan's shoulders with both of his hands. When his fingers touched her, he sighed in relief and pulled her into a tight embrace. She was real and tangible. He sighed as he clung to her, pressing her against him and kissing her forehead.

Carrigan pulled out of his arms slowly. "Hi," she whispered.

"Hi," Benjamin replied as he stared at her. He looked her over as his hand touched her head and slid smoothly down to caress her cheek.

Her eyes drifted from Benjamin's overjoyed crystal blue stare to look at Haiden, who was standing quietly against the front door. Carrigan stared at her intently, taking her in and sizing her up. I trusted Carrigan more than anyone to know if Haiden truly stood before us.

"I'm happy you're safe," Haiden spoke first.

"Relieved, you mean," Carrigan replied with a fake smile. "If I had died you would haven't been able to live with the guilt of leaving me behind."

"I assure you, Carrigan, I always knew you would survive. And I do feel guilt for leaving the others behind."

"The deepest circle of hell is reserved for those who show their true cowardice and stand by while others are being slaughtered," Carrigan said rather passionately.

"I understand how you feel," Haiden whispered. "I will be going. I can feel that my presence isn't welcome here…"

Benjamin looked at her, taking his eyes off Carrigan for the first time since she had arrived in the foyer. "Would you like me to take you back to the hotel?"

"No, don't be silly," Haiden replied softly. "I can manage on my own."

Benjamin nodded and turned his attention back to Carrigan. I studied the way he looked at her. He was relieved she was home. I could see the desire to hold her in his eyes; he wanted to be the only person she wanted to return to. I looked at Carrigan to see that she was still peering at Haiden with razor sharp eyes. Her glare was enough to cause a person to keel over, but Haiden had a strength of her own and was not easily intimidated by her cousin.

Haiden said nothing else before she turned and slipped out the door. For a moment, I felt bad for her. There was a sadness to her somber expression as she left, a loneliness that Benjamin had cured for a few days. When the door closed behind her, Carrigan released a breath but did not pull her eyes away from the closed door.

"You were hard on her," Benjamin said mildly.

Carrigan pivoted to look at him. When she spoke her voice was icy cold and emotionless. "You're close to her now?"

"She was helping me find you."

I frowned and looked at Gabriel as the two exchanged bitter words. They reminded me of Gabriel and I, which made my stomach turn with discomfort for many reasons. I didn't want Carrigan to have the cursed life of loving her Guardian. That was my main fear of how she and Benjamin fought. They fought because they cared about each other. In the back of my mind, I was also worried about a prophecy that had been revealed to me by Persephone over two years ago and confirmed by Firenz just a few months ago. Carrigan was destined to have a child that I was later meant to protect. I didn't want to think of what would happen to the world if Carrigan and Benjamin had a child…when I was pregnant with Gabriel's child, he was so powerful he almost killed me.

"She did an excellent job of that."

"I was desperate," Benjamin exhaled quickly. He looked like he was about ready to explode with frustration. "I couldn't find you myself and we were at a loss! Haiden was the one person who seemed like she could help because she may know about the experimental dark magic that was going to be performed on you!"

"The dark magic that was performed on me wasn't experimental, it was ancient," Carrigan sighed as she looked down at the floor. They both fell silent for a few moments. "I'm sorry," she whispered as she looked up at Benjamin. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she looked ashamed. "I've missed you, Benjamin."

Benjamin stepped forward and pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to save you."

"Don't be," Carrigan said. "I realized very quickly that I was going to have to save myself, and there is nothing wrong with that."

Benjamin didn't say anything in response. He just held her close, resting his chin on her head as he stroked the back of her neck. His eyes glanced at Gabriel then over to me. He was full of worry, but also relieved that Carrigan was home. Carrigan embraced him just as tightly with her arms wrapped around his center as she rested her head on his muscular chest. He was significantly taller then her, and yet they looked proportional to each other.

"Well," I sighed softly as I threw my brown hair over my shoulder. "Benjamin, will you be staying here?"

"Yes," Benjamin said as he pulled back from Carrigan. He didn't take his eyes off of her as he spoke however. "I'll forgive you."

I bowed my head. "Fine."

"Forgive her for what?" Carrigan asked with high eyebrows as she looked between Benjamin and me. Her face light up with realization suddenly as her eyes drifted between us. "You're mad at her for not telling you who your mother is?"

"You've gotten much stronger," Benjamin spoke slowly. "I didn't even feel you in my mind."

"I didn't use Legilimency," she replied with a calm indifference. "My telekinesis is a part of me now…it's just something that is and that I am." She shrugged. "I thought you'd be happy to know that I am fully trained and no longer in need of a Guardian."

"We'll see about that," Gabriel said from the staircase. Carrigan cast him a chilling look that didn't seem to phase him. He simply smiled at her as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm going to go back to bed, if you all don't mind."

"I'll join you," I yawned as I looked at Benjamin and Carrigan who were standing quietly before us. They were peering at each other with mysterious and longing eyes. It was clear to me that Gabriel and I were going unnoticed in the foyer.

"Good night," Carrigan said easily as she gave me a smile. I stepped forward and kissed her forehead.

"Good night," I whispered as I made my way to the stairs and followed Gabriel up to the bedroom. I heard Benjamin ask Carrigan if he could make her something to eat, he was starving. She agreed to join him in the kitchen. I smiled softly as Gabriel and I disappeared into the bedroom; obviously, whatever Benjamin had found and come over to report to us didn't matter anymore.

Once in bed, Gabriel and I lay in silence. Despite Carrigan interrupting our conversation and speaking to Gabriel privately about her status as a Death Eater, he didn't seem convinced that it wouldn't be an issue. I knew he was right…he always was. We lay in bed next to each other, bare shoulders touching, having a silent argument about what to do regarding Carrigan's Dark Mark.

"She can't go to Hogwarts with it," Gabriel finally said to break the silence.

"Really?" I snapped with annoyance. "How do you propose we get rid of it?"

Gabriel rolled onto his side to look at me. He raised his right arm in the air for me to see. Once, Gabriel's arm had been inked with the Dark Mark alone. But now, it was covered in a tangling sleeve tattoo with many designs and colors that overlapped and bleed into each other with pure artistry. The Dark Mark was still visible, but it was faded compared to the other tattoos. Long winding vines of thorns wrapped around the Dark Mark and the rest of Gabriel's entire muscular arms. Roses blossomed along the vines; three bright roses were in full bloom over the skull of the Dark Mark, covering the top part of the skull. The snake that was protruding from the skull's mouth was being devoured by another snake, which wound around Gabriel's wrist. The wizard, who was also a Muggle tattoo artist, had done amazing work on Gabriel's arm (and the rest of his body).

"I'll take her to see Jeremiah," he said easily.

"You want her to have a sleeve tattoo?" I questioned in disbelief.

"I don't want her to be ostracized or captured and thrown in Azkaban," Gabriel replied instantly as he laid back. "You were going to let her get a tattoo next spring anyways."

He had a point. Truthfully, I didn't care if Carrigan had tattoos. I just wasn't sure if the Dark Mark could really be covered. It was put there with dark magic. But, if Jeremiah could cover Gabriel's Dark Mark, why shouldn't he be able to cover Carrigan's?

"A single tattoo and an entire sleeve are two different things," I replied.

"She doesn't necessarily have to get a sleeve," Gabriel said. "It will help hide it more though. When you look at my arms, what do you notice first?"

I turned my head to look Gabriel in the eye. My eyebrows were raised high, which made him smirk. I had no way of answering that question. Whenever I looked at any part of Gabriel's body, the first thing I noticed is how my center got hot and my knees buckled. He had a fantastic, muscular body—which he worked hard to keep, running and working out more then me.

"Cadence?"

"Hm?" I blinked. He smiled and pulled me against his body.

"You don't notice anything when you look at my arms, do you?" he smiled.

"I notice how big they are…" I replied in a heated daze. "…and the roses…"

Gabriel laughed. "Alright," he leaned down and kissed my neck gently. "The point is you _don't_ notice my old Dark Mark."

"Yea, but any woman who looks at your arms melts and any man grows envious," I said. "If someone looked at Carrigan with a sleeve of tattoos they would judge her because she's so tiny. She doesn't even look fourteen!"

Gabriel sighed as he laid back in the bed, still holding me in his muscular arms. "Yes she does. She looks like a young woman. You don't see it because you're a woman and her mother."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Carrigan is a young woman," he said. "If you weren't worried about all the boyfriends she's had in the past, when she still looked like a little girl, then you had better worry now."

I wasn't sure what he was referring to, but he was probably right; Carrigan was my daughter and right now she just looked like a young girl to me. A young girl who had been through hell and survived. Maybe that's what Gabriel was seeing. He saw a maturity within Carrigan now that wasn't there before. Her experience had change her in some way to make her older and wiser.

"I'm not worried," I said honestly. "The fact is she _is_ a young woman, Gabriel. She's growing up and she will continue to. But Carrigan has always been very careful with her heart and I certainly think that isn't going to change now."

"I hope you're right," Gabriel said. "She's exactly like you, in more ways then you realize, and despite being careful you tore your heart in two."

I moved with discomfort at Gabriel's comment. It was a low blow, in my opinion. When I was younger I was torn, confused and unsure of what or who I wanted. I made mistakes. I wasn't going to deny that. But I was sure that Carrigan was going to make her own mistakes, different ones. And I trusted that when it came to matters of the heart, Carrigan was going to be more careful then I ever had been because of what I had gone through. (And what I put Sirius and Gabriel through).

As I lay considering what Gabriel was saying, a sudden thought entered my mind. Carrigan was supposed to have a child that I would later protect. I bit my bottom lip with apprehension. For that reason, it was important that I become independent of Gabriel and complete my training. While I may have become independent of him, I never completed my training. Firenz, the centaur, had also said that paths can change…perhaps Carrigan wouldn't bare a child and I wouldn't protect it.

"What are you thinking?"

I looked at Gabriel with a weak smile. "Nothing," I whispered, deciding not to tell him about the prophecy. "Just that you're right. She's not a little girl anymore."

Gabriel nodded and kissed my forehead. "At least we agree on that," he smiled against me. "What of the tattoos?"

"Let's talk to Carrigan in the morning," I said softly as I laid my head on Gabriel's chest. "She'll probably be up before you go to the office."

He kissed my forehead again before laying his head down on the pillow over me. His arms remained tightly around me while I laid my head against his chest and closed my eyes, trying to sleep. Sleep never came easy. I had hoped that since Carrigan was home it would, but I was mistaken. I lay in Gabriel's arms for what felt like forever before I fell asleep.

When I woke, it felt like only a moment had passed since my eyes had shut. Carrigan was sitting on the edge of the bed, poking my shoulder and rocking my body gently. My eyes fluttered open as my shoulder began to tense with pain.

"Yes?" I mumbled with annoyance as my eyes fell on her. She smiled at me. Her appearance took me by surprise. I was not used to seeing my fourteen year old daughter with a shaved head. Her hair was a dark brown shadow on her scalp. I wondered why her hair had been removed, what was the purpose and did she like it or even care? She was sitting up straight on the edge of the bed, staring down at me with looming large blue eyes.

"It's eleven," she said matter-of-factly. "I'm tired of waiting for you to get up."

"Did you sleep at all?"

"For a few hours. Benjamin woke me at seven to go for a run before he went to work," Carrigan was calm and relaxed as she sat next to me. "Isn't this supposed to be the other way around? Aren't you supposed to be the one waking up early and waking me up so I don't sleep all day?"

"I can't help that you're more mature then the stereotypical teenager."

"Please get up," Carrigan begged with a girlish whining tone. Her small hands pressed on my shoulder, rocking my body back and forth.

"What's so urgent?"

"I've been surrounded by Death Eaters for over two months. They weren't the best company. I just want to talk."

"About what, Carrigan?"

"Gabriel talked to me about covering the Dark Mark with tattoos."

"What do you think about it?"

"I think it's a good idea," Carrigan nodded, but she looked skeptical. "I'm worried it won't work though…"

"It worked for Gabriel," I whispered tiredly. Carrigan frowned at me, looking apprehensive as she considered her words carefully.

"I suppose I don't want to get my hopes up," she replied after pondering. "I don't want to be disappointed if we can't get rid of it."

I nodded in understanding. That was very practically; and very Carrigan. She was always thoughtful and logical. She didn't want to set herself up for disappointment.

"What did Benjamin think?"

"I haven't told him about it yet." Her voice was flat and frank. I sat up on my elbows to look her straight in the eye.

"About the Dark Mark at all?"

"No," she said. "I'm not ready to yet. I've only told you and Gabriel."

I nodded slowly. "I understand. You want to see the tattoo artist then?"

"Yes. Gabriel said he'd take me tomorrow."

"He can take you to Diagon Alley too. You have to get your school things."

"About school…"

I blinked and looked at Carrigan quickly with bewilderment. Where was she going with that comment? "What about it?" I asked apprehensively.

"Well," she said as she wiggled on the edge of the bed, adjusting her position so she was more comfortable and less likely to slip off the mattress. "I wasn't sure when I should see my friends…Ben and I talked about it last night. There are pros and cons to seeing them before the first or waiting to see them on the first. I'm just not sure what to do."

"Why are you worried about seeing them before the first?"

"I'm just worried about seeing them in general. I don't want to deal with all of their questions…and tears…and happiness," she said sorely. "I just want everything to pick up where we left off."

"You can't pretend you weren't kidnapped, Carrigan."

"I don't want to pretend it didn't happen. I know very well it did and there is no way I can forget that it happened…but, can't everyone else forget it happened? I just don't want to be treated differently."

"I understand not wanting to be treated differently," I said compassionately. "For a few days they will treat you differently because they missed you and were concerned about you. But once you're back into the routine, they'll see you just as they did before."

"But I'm not the same anymore, Mom. I'm different now."

"Of course you are," I pushed the covers off my body and sat up next to Carrigan on the edge of the bed. "All our life we're changing because of the experiences we go through. If we learn from our experiences, the good and the bad, then we're changing for the better. You're stronger now. There is nothing wrong with that."

"I don't want them to think I'm fragile or broken….or worse, they'll be afraid of me," she whispered with a sad tone.

I wrapped my arm around my daughter's shoulders and pulled her against me to hold her. She was small in my arms, but fit and strong; there wasn't a fragile bone in Carrigan's body. I kissed her head before resting my chin there.

"You are not someone they fear."

Carrigan didn't say anything as she clung to me. "If Harry knew I had a Dark Mark, do you think he would trust me? Or do you think he'd be afraid I've betrayed him and the rest of us to Voldemort?"

I was silent.

"I don't want to tell people because I'm afraid they'll think like you and Gabriel—and I understand that train of thought. I do. So, is it wrong to not even give people the chance to think it? To not tell them my story?"

"They're going to think it whether you tell them or not," I replied calmly after pondering her point of view. "First of all, you _are_ Voldemort's granddaughter. Your virtue will always be questioned because of that fact alone. Secondly, because you were held captive for so long there will be people who questioned your loyalties. They will think because you were with Voldemort for so long that you are for him now and have only returned to us because he told you too. But, you are right. If you tell or show people your Dark Mark it will only confirm their suspicions.

"I don't blame you for not wanting to tell people," I continued. "And I don't think it's something that you should publicly announce. It is your decision who you tell. But I don't think that means you need to be worried about your friends being afraid of you."

"You're not afraid of me?" Carrigan asked as she gazed up at me.

"Of course not," I replied instantly. "Carrigan, I am like you. You have mastered powers that I still don't understand and I never will. You are not to be feared because you are good in your heart. You would never use your powers to hurt a person who wasn't threatening your life or the lives of those you love."

Carrigan nodded as she looked away from me to the floor. "How do you manage it?" I raised my eyebrows at her, unsure of what she was referring to. "Killing people, I mean."

"Oh," I whispered sadly. I forced a smile at her. "You have to remind yourself that it was your life or theirs…and that the person you killed was a bad person."

Carrigan shook her head sadly. "That doesn't seem like enough to justify it."

"That's why you're good, Carrigan," I said firmly as I squeezed her shoulders. "That's how I know there is nothing to be afraid of. You morn the life that you took, even if it was someone who was evil. You see the good, even in the bad…and that is what makes you so pure and good. That is why Voldemort wanted to break you. That is why he put your through everything these last few months."

Carrigan nodded her head in understanding. She still looked unsure and uncomfortable, which did not ease my heavy heart. If she needed me to remind her every day that she was good, than that is what I was going to do.

"We're strong girls, Carrigan," I whispered sweetly.

"The strongest," she replied instantly with a nod. She turned and looked me straight in the eye with her memorizing navy blue eyes. They sparked like the night sky with beaming stars imprinted in the darkness. "Because we have to be."


	14. Forgotten

A few days later, I was lying leisurely on the leather couch in my study. I still hadn't been sleeping well at night and the day's work exhausted me to the point that I collapsed on my couch when I arrived home from the Ministry. I was rubbing my temples, massaging a headache, while my eyes were locked tightly shut with tiredness.

At the Ministry, I completed paper work that confirmed and solidified my contract with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. There was nothing I hated more then paper work—and nothing I found more boring and tiring. The Ministry had me read and sign at least one-hundred pages of documents outlining the regulations and rules of my position. There was also a 'no-fault' document that protected the Ministry from responsibility if I were to be seriously injured or killed in the line of duty because I was a self-contractor.

The farther I read into the documentation, the more I regretted my decision to return to work. Truly, I did not have to work. Between what my mother and grandfather left me when I was a teenager, there was no point of working except for individual pride. Working for the Ministry allowed me to keep busy.

But now that Carrigan had returned to us, my original motivations to be reinstated no longer existed. I planned to use the Ministry to find my daughter…but there was no longer a need for that. After signing the documents, I was a private contractor of the Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I answered directly to the Head of the Department, Gabriel, and would work side-by-side with my liaison, Benjamin. Although…now I wasn't sure how much work I would really be doing since I had the option of turning down cases if I so desired.

"You should put your skills to good use," Gabriel had told me cheerfully as I prepared to leave his office and return home.

Now, as I lay on my couch in my office staring up at the wood panel ceiling, I wondered what sort of use I could be to the Ministry. Obviously, they felt I was an important asset against my father, but as my father had still not truly made any moves in his game of domination and magical cleansing, I wasn't sure how much help I could be. Voldemort needed to make a play.

I sat up abruptly as a thought penetrated my mind. I gripped the back of my leather couch and turned my head to the wall of books that were collected in the library. Gabriel had conjured most of the books to replace the ones that we had lost earlier in the year when our brownstone was destroyed.

Voldemort had made a play….he was interested in breaking me and the Order of the Phoenix. He attempted to do so by taking Carrigan and those other girls. That play had failed….but what about his morality? If there was one thing my father was always interested in besides his hatred for individuals born from non-magical parents and killing Harry Potter, it was his own survival; becoming immortal. What was he working on now in attempt to prolong his existence?

In the past, he had set up Cepheus, the magical experiments used on Haiden to test the ability to become immortal via magic. He had also attempted to steal the Sorcerer's Stone, lived off unicorn's blood, performed the _Connecto Anima_ curse and blood bond on me. Voldemort was obsessed with immortality and his ability to live forever.

I stood up from the couch and made my way to the bookshelf. I pulled the step ladder over and climbed up it all the way. The book I thought would provide me the most perspective was on the top shelf, just below the ceiling. Just as I reached my hand out for it, the foundation of the house violently shook causing the floor of the study and walls surrounding me to tremble with echoing vibrations. I lost my footing and slipped off the ladder, tumbling down to the floor with a heavy hard crash on the wooden floor.

I groaned in pain as my back ached. As I sat up, my bones cracked uncomfortably, reminding me of my age. I was not as young as I used to be.

The floor continued to shake beneath me as I stood up. I assumed that Carrigan was experiencing some distress—enough to make her forget the control she had of her physical powers. The book that sat on the top shelf tumbled down onto the floor with other titles as the walls vibrated violently.

I quickly dashed for the door of the room, trying to maintain my footing and center of balance as the house still shook. The book that I was searching for lay uselessly on the floor under a pile of books, completely forgotten. It would have to wait. I had to figure out what was going on with Carrigan.

It felt as though a small earthquake was tearing through the house, causing the floorboards to tremble and clank against each other. The books on the shelf vibrated to the edge of the wooden shelves and began to slip off. I dodge the falling literature as I exited the office.

"Carrigan!?" I called as I marched down the hall. A small decorative table tumbled over, causing a glass lamp to shatter onto the floor. The broken pieces of glass continued to vibrate against the wooden floor of the hall, causing a cacophony of tinkling sounds.

Carrigan did not respond. I stumbled on the stairs and threw my body into the wall so not to fall. Once I regained my center of gravity, I advanced forward down the stairs.

I shouted her name louder as I reached the foyer. "Carrigan!"

The entire house was still shaking, though it had dulled to a rhythmic hum as opposed to the heavy vibrations of a stellar earthquake. It was easy to walk down the hall to the kitchen then it had been to come down the stairs.

When I arrived in the kitchen, I stopped short, shocked to see my daughter floating in the air in the center of the room. Her arms were spread out and head tilted back forming the shape of a capital 'T' with her body. She was hovering three feet off the ground, evenly spaced between the floor and ceiling, counter and refrigerator. I could see heavy clear waves emanating from her body, like heat waves rising off concrete on a sunny summer day. As I approached, I could feel the heat coming off her body.

I bit my bottom lip with apprehension. I had no idea what was going out, or what I should do. I stepped back from Carrigan, who was non-responsive when I called her name again, and pivoted to look around the house. Was there someone else here? The possibility was slim. Maybe she touched something that caused this bizarre reaction? As I looked around, I realized it would be impossible to tell what she could have touched to initiate this physical response. The kitchen was in disarray, because of the shaking—which had subsided. There were broken dishes and silverware lying all across the counter and floor, the chairs had fallen over, and the pantry door had swung open allowing cereal and other dry good to spill onto the wood floor.

Before I could consider what to do to help Carrigan, the doorbell at the front of the house chimed loudly announcing someone's arrival. I turned on my heel in surprise. Who would be visiting us? I looked from the hallway threshold, back to Carrigan with unsure eyes. The doorbell chimed again, forcing me to leave Carrigan hovering in the kitchen like a wrath and advance on the front door. I pulled my wand from my boot and gripped it tightly as I twisted the doorknob in my hand, ready to open it.

"Who is it?"

"Henry Thrett," replied the calm and collected voice.

My posture relaxed when I heard his voice. I had forgotten that Henry had rushed off to establish if there were any extended members of the Black family that may reside in France.

"Henry, when did I first meet you?"

"Christmas holiday last year," he replied. "You allowed me to stay with your family over the holiday."

"Correct."

"What did I find in the Lestrange's cellar?"

"A griffin charm and a fleur de lis in the dirt."

"Yes," he responded happily. I twisted the knob to pull open the door.

Henry Thrett gave me an excited smile when he strode into the foyer of the house. He was wearing a thin traveling cloak and had dark circles around his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in days. "You'll never believe what I've found."

I frowned. I truly should have been more forward about alerting people that Carrigan had been safely returned home. Henry was the second person who had kept looking for her even though she was already found. I had notified Dumbledore the day after she arrived. Carrigan wasn't ready to tell many more people. She was still adjusting to the idea that her experience had changed her, and therefore was going to change how people perceived her, even her closest friends.

Before I could stop Henry, he continued to speak in a rushed tone. "The Levette family are cousins of the Blacks. They live in France and I think I found one who reside here in England—Dorian Levette. But, he's dead! He just died a week ago. I went to France to search his residence for the girls, I found it. But no one was there. The place had been abandoned and half destroyed. Either someone destroyed it trying to escape or Voldemort is tying up his loose ends." He paused for a moment and stared at me, as if waiting for me to draw a conclusion from the facts he had just reported. "Cadence! Carrigan escaped! We have to find her before Voldemort does again! Why aren't you smiling? This is good news."

I gave him a weak smile and silently motioned for him to follow me into the kitchen.

"I should have sent word to you sooner," I said softly. "But in all the chaos in the last week, it slipped my mind. I hope you will forgive me."

"Chaos? What are you talking about?"

We arrived in the kitchen and Henry stopped dead next to me, his eyes falling on Carrigan who was still floating in the air.

"She saved me shortly after I killed Dorian Levette, about a week ago. She's been home since, but she's trying to mentally and emotionally prepare before seeing people again. The only other people who know she is back and safe is Gabriel and Benjamin, because they live here, and Dumbledore. She's not ready to tell anyone else yet."

"What is she doing?"

"I have no idea," I shrugged honestly. "I was upstairs, the house started shaking and I found her like this."

Henry strode forward and began to extend his hand out towards her. I jumped forward and grabbed his shoulder. "Don't touch her. She's emanating heat and I'm not sure what touching her will do."

"Well, you don't mean to just leave her up there!?" Henry looked at me with wide eyes.

A strong wind like force abruptly blew past our bodies. We both looked forward at Carrigan, who was now standing on the floor with straight posture and her eyes closed. It was as if her body had sucked all of the heat and air in the room toward her when she moved to the floor. The house was silent. Henry and I didn't even dare to breathe as we looked at her, standing motionless before us.

Her eyes opened, staring directly at us.

"If you had touched me I would have started shaking is all," she said flatly.

"What were you doing?"

"Meditating," she replied.

"Meditating?" I repeated in shock. "Carrigan, you almost brought the house down with you it was shaking so bad!"

"I was very focused," she shrugged. "I'm sorry if I startled you."

I sighed, unable to think of anything else to say. Carrigan turned her attention to Henry, and she immediately beamed.

"I'm sorry I didn't contact you sooner," she said as she stepped closer to him. "I hope you can forgive me."

Henry smiled and shrugged. "I suppose I can." He pulled her into a tight embrace and rested his chin on her shaved scalp. Carrigan embraced him tightly, squeezing him with comfort and relief. Henry kissed her forehead and stepped back to look at her.

"How do you feel?"

"Good," she smiled. "My Mom says you've been looking for me."

"I have," he was still smiling. He was holding her hands as he looked her up and down with careful, caring eyes. "I didn't have much else to do with my time."

"And what will you do with it now?"

Henry laughed. "I don't know…get ready for school, I suppose. I haven't gone to pick up my books or new robes."

"Me either," Carrigan replied. "Gabriel was going to take me in the morning. Why don't you join us?"

"I'd be happy to," Henry said. He glanced at me for a moment, then back at Carrigan who smiled pleasantly.

"Well," I sighed awkwardly. "I'll…just go back upstairs…you're sure you're okay?"

"Yes," Carrigan replied with a bow of her head to me.

"Alright. Do you think you can do something about the mess you made while you were meditating?" I motioned around the kitchen that was a disaster.

"Oh yea," Carrigan said quickly as she looked around at the mess she had made. She smiled wildly, with pure confidence, and closed her eyes for a moment. The destruction in the kitchen rewound in front of my eyes. Within a flash, everything that had fallen, broken and spilled returned to it's rightful place.

"Thank you."

I pivoted and exited the kitchen to leave Carrigan and Henry alone for a few moments. I wasn't sure where their relationship stood; a few months ago they were just friends, but both had matured a great deal. I bit my bottom lip, worried that someone was going to get their heart broken….

Just as I stepped onto the stairs to head back to my study the doorbell rang. I turned quickly to look at the door with surprise. Instinctively, I pulled my wand from my boot before gripping the handle of the door.

"Who is it?" Carrigan asked appearing in the hall. I was surprised she asked the question; she was so strong with her telekinesis, I thought she'd know the answer to the question. I looked at her with a stern glare and motioned for her to step back. Henry was behind her, he held her shoulders in a manner of protection. Carrigan rolled her eyes. "Death Eater's don't ring doorbells," she muttered.

"Who is it?"

"Albus Dumbledore," responded the voice on the opposite side of the door.

"Where did we first meet?" I asked.

"Your grandfather's house," he replied instantly.

"Correct."

"Where were we when I told you of the Potters' murder?"

I frowned and bit my bottom lip with discomfort. The question triggered unpleasant, painful memories for me. How I had rushed to Gordric's Hallow without hesitation; how my heart plummeted when I found James' body on the porch of the half destroyed house; how I had sobbed in sorrow as I held Lily's body when I found her in the nursery; and the fear I felt when I could not find Harry.

"The lift at the Ministry," I replied with grief.

"Yes," Dumbledore said solemnly. I turned the knob to open the door for him.

Albus Dumbledore stood on the porch in long sapphire blue robes that made his crystal blue eyes sparkle even more brightly. His eyes looked regretful and sad. Perhaps, asking that security question was just as grieving for him as it was for me. Beyond the sadness in his eyes, Dumbledore looked weak and even old. In all the years I had known him he had never struck me as old, despite his long white hair and beard. For the first time, he appeared to be elderly and it deeply concerned me. The war with my father was wearing him down and if we lost him, I don't know what we would do. Dumbledore was an essential force against Voldemort.

"Come in, Headmaster."

"Thank you," he said with a bow of his head as he entered the cool foyer. I closed the door on the hot summer air and pivoted to look at him. He gave me a reassuring smile. "I do apologize for not coming out here sooner." He turned away from me to look at Carrigan.

She stood up straight and stepped forward, pulling her shoulders from Henry's grasp.

"Hello, Headmaster," she said pleasantly.

"It is good to see you, Carrigan," Dumbledore returned the greeting. "Hello Mr. Thrett. It's nice to see you as well."

"Professor," Henry said with a bow of his head.

"Carrigan, would you mind if we talked about your experience?"

Dumbledore got straight to the point. Carrigan looked a little uncomfortable for a few moments. She folded her hands in front of her as she looked up at Dumbledore. I saw a glint of defensiveness in her eyes.

"There isn't much to speak about," she whispered. "Voldemort kidnapped me. He killed other girls in an attempt to trick me into using Dark Magic against him."

Dumbledore stood up straight with some surprise. "Cadence, could we have some tea, please?"

"Of course," I said quickly. "Let's just go in the kitchen…"

I stepped forward and looked down at Carrigan with calming eyes. I tapped her shoulders and ushered her and Henry down the hall back to the kitchen. They both took a seat at the table. Dumbledore was the last to enter the kitchen. He took a seat on the far side of the table while I moved to the stove to put on some tea.

"I understand why you do not want to discuss the matter," Dumbledore said sincerely.

"Forgive me, Professor," Carrigan interrupted before Dumbledore could continue. "But I don't think you do. There is no way you could understand what I went through unless you experienced it yourself."

"Try to help me understand, Carrigan," he whispered as he peered at her over his half-moon glasses.

"What do you want to know?" she said after a heavy sigh. I could still hear the defensive tone to her voice, but as I looked at Henry and Dumbledore, they both didn't seem to notice. I crossed my arms across my chest and leaned back against the counter. While I waited for the water to boil, Dumbledore asked his first question.

"How did you escape?"

"I killed the two Death Eaters that were transporting me to France. Voldemort was having me relocated to keep me protected from the Order," Carrigan whispered. I listened intently. She had not mentioned why she was moved to France before. "He knew that Henry was getting close."

"How did he know that?" Henry asked with surprise. Carrigan shrugged.

"I don't know, Bellatrix knew who you were by name," she replied. "They didn't say they were moving me because of you, but the day after I heard them talking about you they moved me. I had to assume you were the reason for me being moved."

"How did you kill the two Death Eaters?" Dumbledore asked seriously. He didn't seem concerned with the motivations behind Voldemort moving Carrigan.

Carrigan looked him straight in the eye.

"I know you already know," she whispered. A thin smile spread across Dumbledore's lips. He bowed his head.

"Yes," he said. "Thank you for letting me into your mind."

"It's easier to let you see it then speak about it," she shrugged.

The water began to boil behind me. I turned to remove the kettle from the heat and set it on a tea cozy to retrieve the tealeaves. I brought the kettle and tealeaves to the table and took a seat. Carefully, everyone took a cup from the center of the table and put leaves in it. Then we passed around the kettle of boiling water.

"Do you have anymore questions?" Carrigan asked once she had sipped her tea.

"Are you comfortable coming to an Order meeting?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Why would that be necessary?"

"I think your story is important to our cause."

"I trust you, my mother and Gabriel to be able to report my case to the Order. I have no desire to be at a meeting before I go back to school. Nor, do I wish to relive my experience for others to understand that I am not a Death Eater. They'll doubt me either way, Headmaster. I see no point in wasting time telling them that I'm not."

Dumbledore smiled at Carrigan. "Miss Coleman, you never cease to amaze me."

Carrigan smiled meekly. "You give me too much credit, Headmaster."

Henry looked between the two confused at what was being discussed. I understood. Carrigan and Dumbledore were also having a silent dialogue using Legilimency. Apparently, they were discussing whom Carrigan was loyal to—Voldemort or the Order of the Phoenix.

"Don't be silly," Dumbledore insisted. "You're a very intelligent and skilled young witch. There is a reason I placed in you a year ahead in school."

"Thank you."

Before Dumbledore could ask another question the front door could be heard opening. The sound of Gabriel's voice carried through the hall to the kitchen where we were seated. Dumbledore and I stood up immediately with our wands drawn, ready to strike if we needed.

"Honestly, the Minister just wants her employed so he can say that she is fighting with him against Voldemort—" Gabriel's voice cut off when he turned and faced down the hall. Benjamin Snow was standing behind him, his workbag in hand, with the front door closed behind him. Gabriel looked at me with a broad smile as I held my wand up at him.

I moved down the hall slowly while keeping my eyes on his. They were a gorgeous shade of dark velvet purple. I bit my bottom lip as I approached my husband who was looking at me with a lustful desire that light an animalistic sexual hunger deep within me. Only Gabriel could make me feel so primal and driven by bodily desires. I pressed my wand into his chest as I stared at him.

"What would we have named our son?"

"Caspian," he replied. "Who was my daughter's mother?"

"Anita."

"Ben is safe," Gabriel whispered as I lowered my wand.

"Hello," Benjamin said awkwardly as he squeezed by Gabriel and I in the hall. He disappeared into the kitchen. "Hello everyone. Professor, it is good to see you again."

"Please, Mr. Snow, I insist you call me Albus now," Dumbledore said.

"I'm afraid I cannot, sir."

I was only half listening to the conversation in the kitchen.

"You have something on your mind," I whispered as I looked up at Gabriel.

"I do," he nodded with a half cocked smile that made my insides melt. "But there are too many people in the house right now….what is Dumbledore doing here?"

"Came to speak to Carrigan," I replied as I bit my bottom lip. "Why are you two home so early? And why were you talking about me as you came in?"

"Benjamin was inquiring about his role as your liaison," Gabriel shrugged. "I was just explaining that you probably won't be doing that much work with us."

"And that Scrimgeour is just using me as the Ministry's poster girl."

"Has to keep the spirits of the people up somehow…ensure we're doing something that will protect them."

"I doubt the citizens of England will be comforted knowing that I am on the Ministry's bankroll."

"To answer your other question," Gabriel continued, ignoring my cheek. "I thought now would be the best time to take Carrigan to see Jeremiah. I spoke to him and he's available."

"Alright," I nodded.

"Cadence, Gabriel," said Dumbledore as he approached us. I turned to the headmaster with ease.

"Sorry, we're coming right now," I said as I stepped toward the kitchen.

"Actually," Dumbledore caught my arm before I could pass him. "I would like a word in private. Perhaps in your study?"

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, but obliged. Gabriel nodded his head and led the way upstairs to the study. I glanced back at the kitchen before mounting the steps to follow the two men. Carrigan was sitting at the table laughing lightly at something one of the boys said. She smiled and turned her head, catching my eye for a moment. She bit her bottom lip and gave me a weak smile. I returned the expression before moving up the stairs. Restlessness and discomfort pumped through my body. Why did Dumbledore want to talk somewhere private?

I closed the study door tightly behind me as Dumbledore walked along the wall of bookshelves, taking in the many titles that made up my collection. He smile as he looked at the ground, where books still lay in piles from the earth quake Carrigan had caused.

"How many times have you replaced these books?" he asked mildly while stepping over some hardcover titles.

"Too many times to count," I replied. I glanced at Gabriel with uneasy eyes. He shrugged and set his bag down while unbuttoning his waistcoat. "What is on your mind, Albus?"

Dumbledore turned to me when I addressed him by name. His robes billowed around him as he turned, creating a sense of drama and airiness to his appearance. "Carrigan is a great deal stronger now than she was when she was kidnapped at the end of May."

"Yes…"

"Have you been able to penetrate her mind at all?" Dumbledore directed this question at Gabriel.

"No," he replied.

"You've tried!?" I questioned crossly.

"I wasn't sure what or who we were dealing with," Gabriel shrugged indifferently. He looked to Dumbledore, ignoring the anger that was written all over my face. "But you were able to?"

"Only because she permitted me," Dumbledore sighed. "She only let me see what she wanted me to see."

My body temperature was rising with anger at what Dumbledore was suggesting.

"I'm afraid there was no point of going somewhere private for our conversation either, Professor," Gabriel said lightly. "Her telekinesis is beyond anything I've ever heard of. She can no doubt sense everything we're thinking right now."

"Why do you trust her?" Dumbledore asked. Again, his question was directed at Gabriel.

"Why don't you?" I interjected.

Dumbledore turned a chilling blue-eyed stare on me. I frowned as he gave me a small smile. "It's not that I don't trust Carrigan, Cadence. I want to. But I fear that she is hiding something. Whether she is withholding it because she has been instructed to or she is simply afraid to share it, I don't know. But there are many telling things about how one manages Legilimency and Occlumency."

"Like any form of communication, it has it's tells," Gabriel said to me. "If Carrigan was holding back, only letting Dumbledore see parts of what she experienced, it suggests that she is holding something back. She is hiding something."

"How can you tell that she was only letting you see parts? You don't know the whole picture, you can't tell what is missing."

"Because of the amount of control she has," Dumbledore said. "She was controlled and that's the point. If she was letting me see everything she would have been loose, uncontrolled and easy to read. She was difficult to read. I had to sort through the things she was allowing me to view."

"If you're so concerned about it," I said with a touchy tone. "What do you purpose we do?"

"Just keep an eye on her," he replied with a smile. "I do not think she is such a risk that we should prevent her from returning to Hogwarts, Cadence. I simply think we all need to be careful. Carrigan was gone for a long time and your father can be very persuasive—"

"Carrigan would never give into him," I snapped defensively.

"Would she to save you? To save Gabriel, Benjamin, Henry, Ginny or Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Of course not, she'd rather die—"

"I gave in to save you," Gabriel interrupted me with a devastatingly sad tone. "I gave in to save you and Sirius."

"That was different," I insisted. "You knew you had a way out. You weren't really doing anything for him. You were playing Voldemort." I turned to face Dumbledore straight on. "Carrigan is my daughter. As her mother, I know her better then anyone else would. And if I don't know her then I have no right calling myself her mother. She is many things, good, bad and in between, but I can guarantee she is no Death Eater."

"What of the mark on her arm?" Dumbledore asked matter-of-factly.

"It's just a mark."

"And words are just words, Cadence," Gabriel said. "Actions are the only thing that we can trust—"

"You spoke to her about this! You said your heart trusted her."

"But my mind doesn't," Gabriel replied looking at me with torn, sad eyes. "Logically, I can't trust her. We have never been able to trust anyone—"

"You should give her the benefit of the doubt!" I raged.

The conversation was over. I had enough from the both of them. I pivoted on my heel and marched out of the study, slamming the door loudly behind me. I'm sure that Gabriel was rolling his eyes at my actions, but I didn't care. I didn't want to hear what people thought about Carrigan and her loyalties…mostly because somewhere deep in the back of my mind their questions unearthed my deepest fears. I was afraid that Carrigan had been turned to dark magic. I was terrified that she really was a Death Eater and that I was being fooled again by someone I trusted deeply.

I stopped dead once the door slammed behind me and stared down the hall at Carrigan, who was standing on the top step of the staircase with her head cocked to the side. She was looking over her shoulder, as if she were trying to hear something behind her. I frowned deeply and pushed my long brown curls out of my face before advancing down the hall towards her.

"How much did you hear?" I asked.

She turned and looked at me with a weak smile. "Technically none of it," she replied. "But I know why he asked you to go up to the study."

I nodded in understanding.

"What are you doing then?"

"Benjamin asked me to go for a run," she whispered. "I was going to change…but now I'm ease dropping."

"Gabriel was going to take you to see Jeremiah. He's available to start—"

Carrigan cut me off with a quiet 'shh' as she placed her finger to her lips. I couldn't help but smile. Carrigan was so much like me, she could only be my daughter. She could have easily concentrated on Benjamin and Henry's thoughts, but instead she stood at the top of the stairs ease dropping like the teenager she was. I bit my bottom lip as I nodded.

"Why are you ease dropping?"

"Well, they're talking about me," she replied, still whispering. She glanced at me for a moment. "But I suppose everyone is."

"Only because we love you," I pinched her cheek with apologetic eyes.

"I know you're on my side," she said looking me straight in the eye. "But this is what I was afraid of Mom…convincing people I'm still the same."

"But you're not…"

"I may look different, and be different because of what I experienced, but I am still the same person underneath it all. I'm the same girl who wants a tattoo of a spear stabbing a snake, I want to become an Auror and I don't ever want to fall in love."

I smiled and pulled Carrigan into my arms right there on the steps. I kissed her bald head and clung to her as tears welled up in my eyes. "I know," I whispered. "We're going to get through this, Carrigan, even if we have to convince every one we know that you're good. We'll do it."

"I know," Carrigan smiled gently. She fell silent quickly and turned her head back to listen to Benjamin and Henry in the kitchen. I stood still next to her and listened too.

"She'll be fine," Benjamin said sounding calm.

"How can you say that?" Henry inquired sharply. "She saw her father die and then she was kidnapped and you didn't stop it—"

"Excuse me?"

I stood up straight in surprise. Carrigan looked at me with confusion and low eyebrows.

"You didn't protect her," Henry insisted. "You're the reason she was taken—"

"You weren't there, you can't possibly imagine what it was like."

"If I had been there, she would have been safe!"

"Carrigan doesn't need anyone to protect her," Benjamin retorted.

There was a terrible cracking sound that echoed from the kitchen. Carrigan looked up at me with wide eyes. It sounded as if wood had been cracked against a hard surface.

"Go," I motioned for her to go down the stairs. Together, we raced down the stairs into the foyer and quickly down the hall towards the kitchen. When we arrived, I was surprised to see Henry standing over Benjamin, who was lying on the floor kicking the remains of a broken kitchen chair off his body. He jumped up as Carrigan and I entered and pulled his wand, ready to strike back at Henry.

"What the bloody hell are you two idiots doing!?" I shouted angrily.

Carrigan squeezed by me into the kitchen. Her eyes fell on Benjamin, who was now standing. As soon as their eyes met, he dropped his wand to his side with an apologetic frown on his face. She lifted her hand and the pieces of the broken chair moved together, reforming the chair as if it had never been thrown at a person. Carrigan slowly turned her navy blue eyes to Henry, who looked ashamed, but angry just the same.

"What's going on?" Gabriel asked behind me.

He and Dumbledore had arrived. Before I could answer, Carrigan spoke.

"Henry was just leaving," she whispered coldly. "I'll walk you out."

Henry didn't need telling twice. He quickly moved passed all of us standing in the entrance of the kitchen. I looked at Carrigan with concern as she passed me.

_It will be fine,_ she said to me mildly with Legilimency.

I nodded as if she had actually spoken aloud and moved farther into the kitchen to Benjamin. Once Carrigan and Henry were no longer in view, I looked at him sternly.

"Are you alright?"

"It would take more then a kitchen chair to hurt me," he retorted with annoyed aggression.

"Alright," I said.

"What happened exactly?" Gabriel asked.

"We had a disagreement," Benjamin said. "It's nothing to worry about."

"Well," Dumbledore said as he folded his hands in front of his body. "I think I shall be going as well. It is getting late. I think we have discussed everything of importance. Good evening to you all. Cadence," his crystal blue eyes fell on me for a moment. "Forgive me if I offended you."

"There is nothing to forgive, Albus," I replied. "I know you are concerned for her well being and that of the those we protect."

Dumbledore bowed his head sincerely.

"I'll show you out," Gabriel said.

As Gabriel and Dumbledore left the kitchen they passed Carrigan, who politely bid Dumbledore a good evening. When she stood in the doorframe of the kitchen, she crossed her arms tightly over her chest and peered at Benjamin with a delicate blue-eyed expression.

"You know I could have killed him," Benjamin said sharply.

"I'm thankful you restrained yourself," Carrigan said.

"What did you say to him?"

"That's none of your concern," her eyes flashed with a challenging glimmer. "Do you still wish to run?"

"Yes," Benjamin said instantly. "More so now than before."

"I still have to change."

"Me too," Benjamin said. "Excuse me." He moved out of the kitchen easily, looking at Carrigan with affectionate eyes as he passed her in the doorframe. I crossed my arms over my chest and raised my eyebrows at her once he was gone. When she turned her head to look at me her cheeks flushed pink rather quickly.

"What did you say to Henry?" I asked quietly.

"That I appreciated his defense, it was sweet, but not necessary," she shrugged.

"You should tread carefully," I advised.

"I said I never want to be in love," she replied quickly. "There is no reason to tread at a terrible gentile speed. Nothing is going to come of anything."

I nodded my head carefully as I moved towards her. I paused before leaving the kitchen. "Just because you don't want to be in love doesn't mean you won't be. Things like that happen when you least expect them."

As I looked up from her, my eyes fell on Gabriel who was standing at the end of the hall in the foyer. He had just closed the door behind Albus Dumbledore and turned to face me. He placed his big hands on his hips and smiled down at me with a crooked, half-cocked smile. My insides turned to mush instantly. I couldn't help but smile and bit my bottom lip with deep desire.

Carrigan looked at me with an awkward expression, as if she knew exactly what I was thinking and it made her uncomfortable. I remembered when she was younger and just learning Legilimency, she used to make me uncomfortable by verbally stating all of my secret desires for Gabriel. I smiled at her.

"Don't worry about such things, Carrigan, you're still young," I said as I pinched her cheek.

She rolled her eyes and moved away from me, heading for the stairs. "I don't think age has anything to do with it," she said wisely. She mounted the stairs without another word and disappeared quickly to get ready for her run with Benjamin.

Gabriel slowly advanced down the hall to me with a glimmer of intrigue in his eyes. When he reached me, he hooked his fingers in the belt loops of my pants and pulled me tightly against his body.

"I saw that lustful look in your eyes."

"So?" I smirked at him. Gabriel leaned down and kissed me fiercely on the lips. His kiss made me catch my breath. His hands wrapped around the back of my neck and brushed into my hair, becoming entangled. Hot passionate desire dripped from his mouth to mine and the only thing I could do was return the gesture. I stood on my toes as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders while kissing him just as hotly as he kissed me. He pulled away slowly, giving me a moment to catch my breath. His fingers traced along my jaw line as his tender eyes studied mine.

"What really happened in the kitchen?" he asked quietly.

"Henry threw a chair at Benjamin," I replied.

"What the hell for?" Gabriel asked angrily. He would get angrier when I answered his question.

"Benjamin challenged his honor and said Carrigan could take care of herself."

Gabriel stood up straight and nodded his head slowly. I could see the fire that was burning in his eyes. The idea that two men were fighting over his step-daughter enraged him and lit an over-protective fire within him.

I placed my hand delicately on his chest, hoping to draw his attention back to reality. He looked down at me with raised eyebrows.

"Don't do anything rash," I said smoothly. "Carrigan has it under control."

"How? Two _grown men_ are fighting over her," he snapped back. "She's only fourteen!"

"Let it be, Gabriel," I said with a warning tone. "If you get involved you'll push her farther away. Remember what happened the last time she had a boyfriend? You light a tree on fire and the poor boy dumped her out of fear—"

"Well he was smart—"

"Gabriel Angelo Quintin," I said his full name quickly with a stern expression. Gabriel looked at me in surprise. Never, in the twenty plus years that we had known each other, had I ever addressed him by full name. "You leave her be."

We both fell silent as footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. Carrigan appeared at the base of the staircase in her short, hot pink and orange running shorts and a long sleeve yellow shirt. Benjamin was right behind her in black pants and a white tee shirt.

"We'll be back within the hour," he said coolly as he opened the door. I looked up at Gabriel, who was glaring darkly down the hall at them. Carrigan paused to look at Gabriel with curious eyes. I smacked Gabriel's chest, hoping that he'd relax. Carrigan smirked as she approached us.

"You're the only man who has my heart, Gabe," she said throwing her arms around his shoulders affectionately. Immediately, his expression relaxed and he embraced her tightly. He kissed her head as he smiled.

"Good girl," he said grinning. "I'll take you to see Jeremiah when you get back."

"Alright, thanks."

She broke free of him and left the house with Benjamin who was still looking at Gabriel awkwardly. As soon as the door shut, Gabriel turned to me. "You didn't tell me he loved her."

"I'm surprised you didn't pick up on it sooner," I responded as I moved down the hall towards the staircase. "How'd you figure it out?"

"The way he looks at her." Gabriel followed me to the base of the stairs as I started to go up them. "Where are you going?"

I turned and looked at him with a glowing grin. "To the bedroom, Gabriel."

"Oh," Gabriel nodded with a smirk. "Going to bed early, aren't you?"

"I wasn't going to bed."

"Do you want me to join you?"

"That would be more enjoyable," I replied with a light laugh. "But I can manage on my own if necessary."

Gabriel closed his eyes for a moment and smiled, as if imagining what I could be doing on my own in the bedroom.

"I'll join you," he said quickly. He moved up the stairs and took my hand, leading me the rest of the way to the bedroom.

As I kicked the bedroom door shut behind me, Gabriel pulled me into his arms and kissed me deeply on the mouth. His hands clung to me and began to pull at the buttons of my pants. I laughed and threw my arms around him as we exchanged tender kisses.

My thoughts concerning my father and his attempts to achieve immortality were pushed from my mind completely. Gabriel was capable of making me forget my deepest fears and the reality around me. As we dived into the layers of sheets on the bed, my attention was absorbed by him; his memorizing body, loving hands and passionate mouth.

Down the hall, in the study, the book that I had been searching for was buried under a disheveled mess of pages and hardcover books, dusty and forgotten.


	15. Friends

"Do you like it?" I asked quietly as I held Carrigan's form arm in my hand to study the altered tattoo on her flesh. The area was still red and puffy from the edits, but overall it looked decent. I was afraid that it was still rather obvious that the tattoo was a Dark Mark that had been tattooed over.

I sat in the kitchen chair, with Carrigan standing before me, allowing me to inspect the new tattoo.

"Yea," Carrigan replied softly with some indifference. "It's an alteration of the design I originally wanted."

I nodded my head slowly, still looking at the ink on my fourteen year old daughter's arm. The skull of the Dark Mark had been widened and broken down the center with white ink. A spear filled the negative space of the broken skull, and stabbed down, disappearing behind it's eyes. The spear reappeared through the mouth of the skull and stabbed the head of the snake that was protruding from the mouth as well. The snake had been edited with white and black ink to look dead as well. Carrigan had asked Jeremiah to add a touch of color to the tattoo by adding eight, eight-petal red roses to the design. There were three roses to the left of the snake's dead head, below the skull; two more on the right side of the snake; two on either side of the broken open skull and only placed in the eye of the skull. The roses added an extra touch to disguise the tattoo as a Dark Mark.

"What will you tell people when they ask about it?"

"That I wanted my own symbol of defiance from Voldemort. This tattoo displays a destruction of him through the symbol he uses to mark his followers and murderous acts. The roses represent hope…that someday this war will all be over."

"In which, people will reply that you're only fourteen and shouldn't be thinking so deeply about such things," said Gabriel as he walked into the kitchen.

"I'm ignoring you," Carrigan said with a light smile. Gabriel shrugged and made his way past the kitchen table to the refrigerator.

"Eight roses with eight petals," I whispered as I released her arm. In art from the Renaissance, it was typical that roses were depicted with eight petals to represent rebirth and renewal. "Rebirth."

Carrigan turned her head to me. "I have been reborn," she said as she pulled the sleeve of her black shirt down over her arm. I nodded my head slowly, but had no response. I suppose she had, but how? Fear wavered in me for a moment, but I quickly pushed it from my mind so that Carrigan would not pick up on it. I gave her a weak smile and turned away to look at Gabriel.

He was pulling food out of the fridge and setting on the counter to make dinner. I stood up from my chair to lean against the counter.

"We are going to the Weasley's for dinner," I said softly. Gabriel paused with a head of lettuce in his hand. He looked at me quizzically.

"Why?"

"I wanted to see everyone before leaving for school tomorrow," Carrigan answered before me. "I'm going to change then I'll be ready to leave."

She left the kitchen without another word. I looked to Gabriel who looked disappointed that he could not prepare dinner. He began to put the vegetables and chicken that he had pulled out away in the fridge.

"Who's idea is this?" he asked.

"Not mine," I replied. "Carrigan thought it would be easier to see everyone tonight than tomorrow morning at the train station. She wants to get the awkward greetings out of the way."

Gabriel nodded his head slowly as he studied me. I could see in his eyes that he was trying to penetrate my mind, to see if I had anything to do with Carrigan going to the Weasley's. I stepped close to him and shoved him in the shoulder.

"You know very well that I would never make her do anything she didn't want to do."

"You're such an agreeable mother," Gabriel conceded. "It always baffles me how you're not an agreeable wife as well."

I smirked up at him as he wrapped me in his long, muscular arms. "If you didn't try to control me, maybe I would be more agreeable."

"I seriously doubt that."

He bent his head down to kiss me softly on the lips. His hand moved up my back to my neck, where he pulled at my hair gently and playfully. I couldn't help but smile against his lips. There was always a sexual hunger in his kisses and lustful desire in his touch. I suppose I kept him young and hungry for more passion, love and adventure, while he kept me grounded, confident and loved.

"If you two are done snogging," Carrigan said as she entered the kitchen. "I'm ready to go."

I smiled while pulling out of Gabriel's arms. He didn't let me get far though. As soon as I turned around to face Carrigan, he wrapped me tightly against his body from behind, pulling my back to his chest. I sighed with desire as his washboard abs pressed against me. The feeling of his body pressed against mine made me imagine the possible scenario if we were alone and naked.

"Mom!" Carrigan snapped uncomfortably.

I frowned and bit my lip. "Sorry," I said standing up straight and pulling out of Gabriel's arms. I took Carrigan's new appearance in. She had changed into a blood red long sleeve blouse with a black vest on top. The vest was tightly buttoned close around her petite waist and accented her hourglass shape. She also wore straight cut black slacks with boots.

"Maybe you shouldn't read my mind all the time," I said in defense.

"It's second nature," she whispered. "I'm sorry. Is Benjamin home yet?"

"He's working late this evening, Carri," Gabriel replied. "I don't think he'll be able to come."

Carrigan frowned deeply. "I really didn't want to go without him."

"It will be fine. Gabriel and I will be there with you," I said calmly, hoping to ease her discomfort. "And if you want to leave at any time, we can. We only have to stay as long as you want to."

Carrigan nodded her head. Her deep blue eyes looked confident and nervous at the same time. I knew she was anxious about seeing her friends. She was afraid they wouldn't look at her the same, not trust her, or act as if she were fragile.

"Alright," Carrigan nodded. "Let's just rip the band-aid off and get this over with."

"Would you like to walk there?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes, it's nice out."

"You're going to be too warm in that," he motioned to her long sleeve outfit.

"Mom's wearing more clothing than me," she said turning her head in my direction. I looked down at my outfit and frowned slightly. I was wearing an over-sized knit sweater that fell off my right shoulder and dark skinny blue jeans. I pushed my brown curly waves over my shoulder.

"I think we're fine."

"You're both crazy," Gabriel said with a roll of his eyes. "It's the end of August."

"I'm cold all the time," Carrigan replied softly.

"Like your mother…" Gabriel whispered as he stepped forward and rubbed her shoulders. "Come on, ladies. Our friends wait."

A few moments later the three of us were walking down the dirt road towards the Burrow, where the Weasley's lived. We walked in silence, kicking up the dirt and holding each other's hands. Gabriel walked between Carrigan and I. He smiled down at me, releasing my hand and wrapping his arm around me, pulling me close to him. Carrigan smiled at both of us as we walked. We looked like a normal family as we walked, but looks were often deceiving.

When we arrived at the backdoor of the Burrow, Gabriel knocked politely. There was a few moments of silence, then quick shuffling of feet and furniture. Voices could be heard softly talking to each other on the other side of the door.

"Who is it?" asked the male voice of Arthur Weasley.

"Gabriel Quintin, with Cadence and Carrigan Coleman."

"Gabriel, was I a member of the Order twenty years ago?"

"No," Gabriel replied.

"Correct!" Arthur said cheerfully. There were footsteps behind the kitchen door, then a new voice spoke.

"Cadence, when did you meet my mother?" It was Harry Potter speaking.

"On the Hogwarts Express, at the start of my sixth year at Hogwarts," I replied.

There was a long pause behind the door.

"Carrigan?" This time, the voice was of a young woman. I had to assume it was Ginny Weasley, Carrigan's best friend speaking. Carrigan stepped forward to the door with a faint smile on her face.

"Yes, Ginny. It's me."

"What is the last thing I told you before we left for the Ministry in May?"

"That you were going to break up with your boyfriend because he was a controlling, jealous, jerk," Carrigan replied coolly with a beaming smile.

The door unlocked and opened. A flash of red and green flew by me and collided with Carrigan. Ginny Weasley threw her arms around Carrigan, almost knocking her over off the back porch step. Carrigan laughed as she embraced her best friend tightly in her small arms. Ginny stepped back with a cry of happiness.

"I've missed you so much, Carri!"

"I've missed you too, Ginny," Carrigan smiled as she hugged her friend again. "It's good to see you."

"Come on, you have to see—" Ginny took hold of Carrigan's hand and turned around to head back into the house. She collided straight into Harry's chest. "—Harry."

"Hello, Harry," Carrigan said slowly as she looked up at one of her closest friends. She ran her hand over her bald head nervously as she looked up at his green eyes.

"Hi, Carrigan," he said very carefully.

Carrigan bit her bottom lip and nodded her head slowly, awkwardly.

"Come in, everyone, come in," Arthur said inside the doorframe, welcoming us with open arms. Gabriel motioned for me to enter first.

Inside the kitchen of the Burrow, tasty smells of chicken, lamb, potatoes and greens filled my nose. I couldn't help but smile. Molly was a fantastic homemaker, cook and mother. She managed to run a household with seven children, which was more then I could ever do. I marveled at her strength and abilities.

While living in Maine after the Potter's had been killed, I had tried to be a homemaker. While I was able to pick up after Carrigan and keep the house somewhat clean, I could never cook. Carrigan and I survived on cereal, carry-out and frozen dinners bought from the Muggle grocery store. The only time food was cooked in my oven or on the stove was when Gabriel came over on the weekends.

"Hello Cadence," Molly said brightly.

"Hello, thank you for having us over."

"Of course," she replied still smiling. "It's good to have Carrigan home."

"Yes, it is." I looked at Carrigan as Ginny held her hand and led her into the family room. Harry didn't follow the two girls. He lingered in the kitchen as Gabriel and Arthur took seats at the table to talk. "Something the matter, Harry?"

He forced a weak smile at me. "Can I speak to you?"

"Of course," I nodded quickly as I moved away from Molly. Harry led me into the family room. Carrigan and Ginny were not present, they must have gone upstairs to Ginny's room to talk. "Is there something wrong?"

Harry looked nervous. He patted his hair down in front of his forehead to hide his lightening bolt scar. He pushed his black circle rim glasses up his nose before he spoke.

"Is she alright?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" I ask curiously.

"She doesn't want to talk to me."

"What makes you say that?"

"She always talks to Ginny and Ben before she talks to me," he shrugged.

I looked at Harry oddly. "Well, I think it's a question you should ask her if you want to know the answer."

Harry nodded uncomfortably. "She is fine, though. She is managing everything she has gone through. I think she feels a great deal like you do…she doesn't know how to feel. She is afraid that you will treat her different."

"She is different," he replied. "I mean…look at her…"

I shook my head. "Harry, by coming to me before going to speak to her, you're doing everything she was afraid of. You are treating her differently because of her experience."

Harry frowned deeply. "You're right, I'm sorry. I suppose, I just came to you because I'm afraid that I will treat her differently if I go to her. I wanted to be ready for how she'd respond."

I shrugged. "It's alright, she may have changed, but ultimately she is the same girl who followed you into the Ministry."

"Yea," he sighed heavily. "I get it."

He moved past me without another word. I frowned deeply, realizing the poor choice in my words. Harry blamed himself for everything that happened that night at the Ministry. My statement had just poured salt into his open wound. I watched, debating if I should try to say something comforting to him, as he made his way upstairs. He disappeared from sight before I could call him back. I bit my bottom lip with discomfort.

"What's the matter?" Gabriel asked coming into the family room. He had snuck up on me, causing me to jump with surprise. He gave me a wide, all-knowing smile as he peered down at me with his hands on his hips. I frowned up at him; even his sexy appearance couldn't brighten my spirits now.

"I've upset Harry," I whispered. "Can we leave now?"

Gabriel laughed. "We'll leave when Carrigan is ready to."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Fine."

"Come on," Gabriel said placidly as he rubbed my shoulders and directed me into the kitchen where Molly and Arthur were sitting drinking tea while dinner finished cooking.

"Cadence," Molly said excitedly as we took a seat, joining them. "Arthur has told me that you are working for the Ministry again."

"Yes, as a private contractor," I nodded. "I haven't been doing much work though."

"Because she's so difficult to work with," Gabriel said.

"How is it being the new department head?" Arthur asked.

"More work, more stress and not enough pay."

"Isn't it that way for everyone?" Arthur joked.

They both laughed. "Yes, I suppose that is true. Cadence did not want me take the job."

"Of course not," I said instantly. "I still haven't forgiven you for it either."

"Yes, Cadence told me how she feels about it," Molly nodded remembering the short conversation I had with her concerning Gabriel's new job a few hours after he accepted it.

"It put us in more danger," I said with a shake of my head.

"We're in danger either way, Cadence," Gabriel said wisely as he poured himself some tea from the kettle on the center of the table. "Would you like some?"

"I'm fine thank you," I replied coolly. "I just think you're putting a bigger target on our heads."

"Maybe in the public sphere," he shrugged as if it did not matter.

"Exactly," I replied. "Our family is already hunted by Voldemort—" Molly let out a high pitched squeak when I spoke my father's name. "—Death Eaters have been after both of us for individual reason, together we're in greater danger then ever and with Carrigan added to the mix, we're red hot. Now, you've gone and become a public figure within the Ministry. The press and public care about you and your business—private and work related."

"You're afraid that you've lost your privacy?" Arthur asked.

"We never had it to begin with because of who Cadence is," Gabriel answered before I could.

"Exactly, that's what I'm saying. We have it hard enough as it is, you've just made it worse."

"Hasn't been worse yet," Gabriel replied quickly with a sharp look at me. He wanted the conversation to be over, so that the argument (and grudge I was holding) would be silenced. "Especially since Carrigan is home."

"How is she doing?" Molly asked carefully. "Ginny has been a wreck, worrying about her. We all have been."

"She's doing as well as can be expected," I shrugged as I gave into the subject change. Carrigan was bound to be the topic of conversation at some point. I wasn't sure if talking about her was much better than talking about Gabriel's new career choice.

"You think she'll be okay at school?"

"I think Hogwarts is exactly what she needs to fall back into a routine," I replied. "She's been keeping up a healthy routine since her return. Her training is complete, she is healthy, she seems to be doing well."

"Good," Molly forced a smile and nodded her head. "I can't imagine what either of you have been through…"

"You can't till you go through it," I said mildly. "I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I was going to burn down all of England to find her."

"Good thing she made her own way home then," Arthur said very quietly.

"Are you worried about her…?" Molly's voice trailed off.

"Her loyalties?" I said with a sharp tone.

Molly looked at me with apologetic eyes. She knew she had offended me with her question. I wasn't sure if she had the right to ask it and it bothered me immensely that she did. I tapped my fingers nervously on the tabletop while staring darkly at Molly. I turned my eyes away, blinking and looked down at my lap.

"Everyone is wondering it," Gabriel whispered very softly.

"There is no reason to," I insisted hotly.

"Mom," Carrigan came into the kitchen abruptly. "I'm ready to leave. Can we go please?"

I turned in my chair to look at her with surprise. "Okay, we can go," I said as I started to stand.

"But Carrigan, you haven't had dinner yet," Molly said surprised.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Weasley," Carrigan said politely, though I could tell she was forcing herself to be polite. Her dark sparkling blue eyes betrayed her true feelings of anger and frustration. "But, I need to go."

Gabriel stood up as well and wrapped Carrigan in his arm. "Let's get going. Thank you for the tea Molly. Arthur, I'll see you at work tomorrow."

"Alright, if you're sure," Arthur said. "Good night."

I went to the door and opened, motioning for Carrigan and Gabriel to leave before me. "Good night, everyone," I said softly.

"Carrigan, wait," Ginny called running into the kitchen. She straightened her green sweater when she arrived before us. Carrigan looked back at her friend from the doorframe of the Burrow with dark, threatening eyes. "I'm sorry about what he said. Don't listen to him, he's being stupid."

"It doesn't matter if he's being stupid or not," Carrigan said calmly. "He's articulating his feelings, and I'm sure he's not the only one who is feeling it."

"You don't owe him an explanation."

"Harry doesn't see it that way," Carrigan shrugged.

"Just ignore him," Ginny insisted. "He's just being an ass."

"Ginny!" Molly said surprised.

"Don't worry about it, Ginny," Carrigan smiled. "I know you're all still my friends. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright," Ginny said uneasily. "Bye."

Carrigan turned and exited the house without another word. I raised my eyebrows high and looked at Gabriel, who just shrugged and followed Carrigan out.

"Good bye, everyone," I said politely again. I closed the door behind me before quickly walking down the garden path to Carrigan and Gabriel who were standing by the front gate of the Burrow, waiting for me. "What happened?" I asked softly as I approached. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yes," Carrigan nodded her head slowly. "I just didn't want to sit through an awkward dinner of Harry glaring at me from across the table."

"What happened?" Gabriel asked as we began to walk down the dirt road back home.

"He is questioning my loyalty," Carrigan said with a bitter tone. "He can't trust his own instincts, he's angry and frustrated, so he is taking it out on me. I'm not going to sit by and let him flattening me."

"I'm sorry, Carri," Gabriel said as he took her hand while they walked next to me.

"It's not your fault, Gabe," she said pleasantly. "Harry is stubborn and very rarely sees things from any other perspective than his own. That's why we ended up in the Ministry that night."

"You blame him?" I asked.

"No," she said. "I blame myself for following his instincts instead of my own. I spent the first few weeks of my captivity blaming myself and fearing that I couldn't trust my instincts. I learned very quickly that not trusting myself wasn't really an option. I was my only friend in that situation and if I was going to get out I could only rely and trust myself. Harry just needs to remember right now that he has to trust himself before he can trust anyone else."

"You're very forgiving."

"No," Carrigan shook her head. "I just have a little more perspective. I'm sure this year is going to be incredibly awkward, just like I feared it would. But he is my friend and if this is what he needs, then it's what he needs."

I squeezed her shoulder as we reached our property. No other words were exchanged as we passed our gate and made our way to the porch. Once inside, Carrigan and Gabriel went to the kitchen and began to cook dinner.

I took a seat at the kitchen table and watched them work with a small smile on my face. Gabriel watched over Carrigan while she tried to cook, leaning in to correct some of her technique and skills from time to time, with fatherly pride. I was happy that he was in my life and a part of Carrigan's. I was sorry that Sirius couldn't have been more of an influence and now that he was gone he'd never get the chance to be more of a father to her. Carrigan deserved all of the protection and family she could get, which is why I was thankful that I still had Gabriel. Somehow, he managed to love me, even for my weaknesses, and he loved Carrigan as his own. He saw past our flaws.

There was a violent knock at the front door that broke my attention from the romanticized family scene in my kitchen. Gabriel and Carrigan fell silent and looked to me with raised eyebrows. The knock erupted from the front of the house again. Gabriel and I instantly pulled out our wands. I moved down the hall first, with Gabriel straight behind me. As we arrived in the foyer, whoever stood on the front porch knocked for the third time aggressively. I thought the door might be knocked down if they hit it again. I grabbed the handle and looked back at Gabriel. Carrigan was standing a few feet behind him, in the hall, peering down at us with curious eyes.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Benjamin Snow!" His voice sounded frantic.

"How far did we go running this morning?" Carrigan asked coming forward, closer to the door.

"Eight miles," he replied. "You wanted to kick it up a notch."

Carrigan nodded as she looked between me and Gabriel. "That's right. It's him."

I squeezed the doorknob, but Carrigan grabbed my arm to prevent me from opening the door. She squinted her eyes with a curious expression, as if she were trying to listen to something.

"Benjamin?" she asked quietly. "Who is with you?"

"Haiden," he replied quickly. "Open the door, please. She is hurt."

I opened the front door slowly and stepped back in utter shock as Benjamin advanced forward into the foyer carrying an unconscious woman's body in his arms. Carrigan stood up straight and glared at Benjamin quickly while I took in the woman's appearance. Her hair was half pin-straight and blonde, while the other half was wavy and dark brown.

"Benjamin…" Gabriel sighed as he looked at Haiden Drake's limp body that was cradled in Benjamin's arms.

"I found her like this," Benjamin insisted. "Please, we have to help her. She is your niece and my friend. Please."

I bit my bottom lip harshly and nodded my head despite my better judgment. "Take her upstairs to the spare room. We'll be up in a moment."

With that, I slammed the front door shut violently. It was going to be a long night.


	16. Carri's Frustration, Benjamin's Burden

The spare bedroom of the farmhouse was in the attic. The last door on the right at the end of the second floor hallway opened to a steep, narrow staircase that led into an open room with a queen size bed, dresser and vanity. Miscellaneous boxes of belongings were stored along the edges of the wall. Gabriel said that the spare room was just in case we had to house anyone the Order of the Phoenix was helping for a short period. I was never crazy about our house being a safe house, but I knew how important it was for the Order to provide safe places for people who supported the cause and were on the run from Voldemort.

Benjamin carried Haiden's body all the way upstairs as if she were as light as a pillow. As soon as he set her down, Gabriel and I stepped in to take a closer look at her injuries. She appeared to have been knocked unconscious; there was a thin cut across her forehead that disappeared under her blond hairline and a significant amount of her forehead was bruising. The back of her head was soaked in blood; she must have been knocked on the back of her skull by a blunt object. Her arms and torso were mangled with bruises, cuts and shards of glass. As I helped Gabriel get the unnecessary articles of clothing off, I noticed that her left elbow was also dislocated.

"That's enough," Gabriel said once I had removed her shirt. Haiden laid on the bed in an athletic top and her jeans. She was a thin, boney creature. Her skin lay tightly across her rib cage. The poor girl looked starved. I was thankful that Carrigan, despite being skinny, was not so thin that she looked like skin and bones. Carrigan was thin and muscular, while Haiden looked like she could break easily.

Gabriel conjured a plastic bowl and extended it to me. I held it for him as he pulled out the shards of glass that were stuck in Haiden's flesh. She looked as though she had fallen head first through a window. As I held the bowl, I glanced at the entrance into the attic, where Benjamin was standing with Carrigan next to him. He looked worried; his arms crossed over his chest while his fingers nervously tapped against his biceps. He bit his bottom lip while his icy blue eyes never blinked. He stared straight forward at the bed while Gabriel worked. Carrigan, however, looked frigid. Her navy blue eyes held no twinkle of compassion or worry. She stood with her hands on her hips while she glanced back and forth between Haiden, on the bed, and Benjamin, standing next to her.

"Can I speak with you?" she said abruptly as she turned on her heel and exited the attic. The stairs leading to the second floor creaked loudly under her, despite her light weight, as she descended. Benjamin didn't say anything, but followed her downstairs. I looked at Gabriel as I bit my bottom lip with apprehension.

"What do you think happened?"

"Have to ask Benjamin," he shrugged honestly as he pointed his wand at Haiden's forehead. "Honestly, I'm more curious about what is going on between Benjamin and Haiden."

"I know. I don't trust her in the least."

"We shouldn't."

"Benjamin does for some reason."

"She could be using him."

I nodded in agreement. "Should we keep her here or move her?"

"Where could we take her?"

"A safe house?"

"That puts the Order in just as much danger as it does to keep her here," Gabriel responded coolly. "We should just heal her and send her back to wherever Benjamin found her."

"YOU CAN'T TRUST HER!" shouted Carrigan's voice from below us. "THAT IS EXACTLY MY POINT!"

I rolled my eyes and released a heavy sigh.

"Perhaps you should go downstairs," Gabriel said slowly.

"I don't want to get caught in the crossfire."

Gabriel laughed. "Me either."

I set the bowl down on the dresser then headed for the door of the attic. I raced down the stairs, hoping to reach the verbal fight before it escalated to the point that Carrigan lost control of her physical powers.

"SHE LEFT ME TO DIE!"

"I'm not discussing anything with you when you raise your voice like that," Benjamin said calmly with his arms folded over his chest. He was the first person I saw when I reached the bottom of the attic stairs. He was facing down the hallway towards me, Carrigan's back was to me. She heard me coming, and pivoted to look at me, her eyes red with anger and frustration. I could tell instantly that she was close to tears, which caught me off guard. Carrigan was not one to cry.

"Hey," I said slowly. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Carrigan said quickly. "Nothing at all."

She shoved past Benjamin and disappeared down the stairs to the first floor of the house. My heart skipped a beat when I heard the front door open and slam shut. For a moment I wanted to go after her, but I quickly remembered that Carrigan needed her space. She needed to take a moment to cool down. When she was relaxed and ready to talk she would return.

"I doubt that was about nothing."

"She is frustrated that I brought Haiden here," Benjamin said easily. "She thinks that Haiden can't be trusted because she left her behind. Is she awake yet?"

"No," I shook my head and took hold of his arm quickly before he could get past me. He looked down at me with a chilled glare. "Benjamin, tell me what happened."

Benjamin tore his eyes away from me long enough to stare past me at the door at the end of the hall. He crossed his arms over his chest defensively while taking a long slow breath. I waited patiently for him to speak.

"I stopped by to see how she was doing," he shrugged innocently. "She's staying in my flat. I'm renting it to her."

"You own a flat?" I said surprised.

"I bought it shortly after I started at the Ministry. I thought it would be wise for us to have a safe place to go in case the house was ever found out."

It was a wise idea, but I was more in shock that Benjamin had been living under my roof when he was financial capable of living on his own. I decided that at the moment, the point was mute.

"You found her like this?"

"She didn't answer the door," he nodded. "I thought maybe she wasn't home and used my key. The place was ran-sacked, as if they were looking for something, and Haiden was in the living room. She was lying on the broken glass coffee table. I just grabbed her and brought her here."

"She wasn't conscious at all?"

"No," Benjamin shook his head. His eyes opened wide with realization.

I pivoted immediately and tore up the stairs towards the attic. Benjamin was at my heels, racing up the stairs behind me. Because Haiden was unconscious when Benjamin found her, he was not able to ask her a security question. It was completely possible that the woman upstairs was not Haiden at all, but an imposter who staged the entire break-in with the soul purpose of getting into my home.

I stopped violently on the steps, causing Benjamin to run into me.

"What is it?"

"What would be the purpose of getting into the house?"

Benjamin shrugged. "There are many—"

"Carrigan," I interrupted impatiently. "Go tell Gabriel what you told me. Make sure when Haiden wakes you ask her a security question. I'm going to get Carrigan."

Benjamin frowned deeply with uncomfortable concern in his eyes. He turned to dash up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I moved just as fast down the stairs to the second floor again.

_Carrigan,_ I thought with Legilimency as I raced down the hall to the staircase that led downstairs. I jumped the last few steps into the foyer, yanked open the front door and raced onto the porch. The front yard was deserted in the setting sun light. I jumped off the porch onto the gravel pathway from the house to the front gate. She was no where to be seen. She couldn't have gotten that far—unless she Apparated. I closed my eyes and concentrated all of my energy on her.

_Carrigan. It's an emergency._

"Cadence," Gabriel called as he came out the front door. I turned with distraught eyes to look at him.

"What?"

"Haiden isn't an imposter. She answered a security question."

"Carrigan is gone," my voice rang with alarm as I ignored Gabriel's comment.

Gabriel frowned deeply as he descended the porch steps. His wand was gripped tightly in his hand at his side. He stopped next to me and placed his left hand on the small of my back, as if to comfort me. Just as he opened his mouth to speak there was a flash of blue light south of the farmhouse. A trembling explosion erupted and the ground below our feet shook. The sight was unmistakable—the explosion was created by Carrigan's energy. She was in danger; or very angry that Benjamin had brought Haiden home.

Gabriel grabbed my hand before I could move and Disapparated us from the front yard of the farmhouse. My feet hit uneven ground violently, causing my knees to give. I tumbled over, but Gabriel held me strongly and pulled me against his chest breaking my fall. I yanked my body away from him instantly as I took in the scenery around us.

We were standing at the edge of a six foot deep crater in the earth. The land south of the farmhouse had once been undeveloped field and swamp, but now, the 500 square foot crater scarred it's natural beauty.

"Where is Carrigan?" I asked looking around with confusion. I turned away from the crater to look out at the surrounding the field. I shielded my eyes from the setting sun, hoping to see my daughter's silhouette standing against the sunset.

"There!" Gabriel pointed. I turned my head so quickly, following the direction of his arm, that my neck cracked violently. I groaned as he jumped down into the crater. I followed his lead, landing cat-like on my feet.

Gabriel was already moving across the rocky dirt towards the center of the crater. As I followed him, I saw what he had pointed to. In the middle of the crater, two bodies laid covered in dirt. Gabriel got to the pair before me. He snatched up Carrigan's limp body like she was a rag doll. My heart plummeted into my stomach as I approached him, holding back tears out of pure fear.

"She's alive," he said softly as I felt for a pulse. "I can feel her breathing."

I nodded. "Alright." I turned my attention to the other body that lay at our feet. It was a woman, who appeared to be in her twenties, dressed in all black with long blonde hair that was pin straight and fell to her bottom. As I stood over her, studying her features, she looked vaguely familiar to me. There was something about her cheekbones and the curve of her jaw. I stepped forward, crotched down and felt her wrist for a pulse.

The moment I touched her, she lurched to life. She threw her free arm out and grabbed me around the throat; with a swift pull, she tossed me over her body, away from Gabriel and Carrigan. Her strength was surprising considering the injuries she must have sustained from the explosion that created the crater.

My body rolled across the dirt, knocking the air out of my lungs. When I stopped rolling, I sat up instantly, ready to jump to my feet but I froze instead. The blonde haired woman was standing upright in the center of the crater with a foreign weapon pointed at Gabriel and her wand pointed at me. As I studied the weapon in her hand, I recalled seeing it somewhere before; perhaps when I was a child living in America. It was a metallic black color and shaped like an awkward looking 'L.'

"What the hell?" Gabriel muttered as he glanced at me.

"Who are you?" the blonde asked as she stared at Gabriel. Her long straight hair billowed in the cool evening wind. Her posture was rigid, strong and commanding. I studied her as I slowly began to stand up. Her amber brown eyes looked just as familiar to me as her face. I felt as if I knew her from somewhere or sometime in my past.

My movement called her attention. She immediately turned to me, stepping forward with her wand yielding towards me. I raised my hands carefully in surrender.

"Relax," I said slowly. "You must know who we are—"

"No," she interrupted. "If I knew, I wouldn't ask. Who are you? And why the hell did that stupid bald bitch attack me?"

I flicked one of my hands, like I was swatting a bug, and the blonde girl went flying across the crater. Her body slammed into the crater wall and collapsed on a mound of dirt. I called her wand and foreign weapon to me with another quick swish of my fingers. I swooped down, picking them up in my hands. With a snap of my fingers they disappeared from sight. I pulled my wand from my boot and pointed it straight at the young blonde, who was shaking her head and trying to stand.

She flipped her long hair out of her face as she fiercely glared at me for disarming her.

"Call my daughter a bitch again and I'll break your jaw," I said coolly as I walked towards her. The young woman didn't move. She simply continued to glare at me, as if wishing I would burst into flames. Her hands were clenched tightly closed into little fist.

"Now," I continued as I stopped directly in front of her. "Who are you?"

She didn't answer me, which made my stomach twist with discomfort. I didn't want to hurt her unless I absolutely had to. I pressed my wand tip into her neck, just below her jaw line and repeated my question. "Who are you?"

"Quinn," she said slowly as she stared me straight in the face as if challenging me to call her bluff. I silently said the spell for Legilimency as I stared at her to see if she was lying.

"Juniper Quinn Tullius," I said softly with a nod.

"If you call me Juniper, _I _will break _your _jaw," she hissed with cheek. I couldn't help but smirk. "If you knew the answer, why did you ask?"

"Wanted to see if you would lie to me," I said back sharply. I stepped forward closer to her body. She stood her ground. With my wand still pressed into her neck, I grabbed her left arm and pushed up the sleeve.

"Looking for something?" she asked with bite.

Her arm was blank pale white flesh. I looked her straight in the eye. She had a smug smirk on her face.

"What are you doing in my field?"

"I was walking," Quinn replied defensively. "_Your daughter_ appeared out of no where. The next thing I know I'm lying in the dirt of this damn crater with you standing over me."

"Avery," Gabriel said calmly from across the crater. I was surprised when he used my code name from our old days at the Ministry. I turned my head slightly over my shoulder to see Gabriel putting Carrigan down, on her feet. She was awake; the girl had perfect timing. She could confirm Quinn's story.

"Mom?" Carrigan questioned as she stood up straight and looked at me with perplexed eyes. Gabriel held her arm, guiding her forward, towards me and Quinn. "What are you doing?"

"What happened when you Apparated to the field?" Gabriel asked.

"I made it out here just in time," Carrigan said looking up at him slowly. "As soon as I arrived, my energy got the better of me and exploded."

"_You caused the explosion?_" Quinn's voice was utterly shocked.

Carrigan blinked as she stared at the young blonde, but did not say anything.

"You're lucky to be alive, Quinn," I said softly while pulling my wand away from her neck. "Now, get the hell out off my property."

"Gladly," Quinn said. "Give me back my weapons."

I studied her carefully and glanced at Gabriel for his opinion. He wasn't looking at me though. He was staring straight at Juniper Quinn Tullius.

_She's looking for something._ Carrigan's voice rang in my ears. I looked at her simply out of habit. Carrigan frowned slightly as her eyes opened wide with surprise. Her hand jumped to her throat as if she were choking.

"What is it?" I asked as I touched Carrigan's shoulder.

"Why were you walking through the field?" Carrigan asked Quinn.

"Why did you blow it up?" Quinn snipped back.

"Because I was upset that my friend brought home a girl that I don't particularly care for," Carrigan replied honestly. "I lost control of my physical powers because I was so emotional. I Apparated to the field so when I blew it up I wouldn't kill anyone."

"Well, you almost killed me."

"But I didn't," Carrigan said quickly. "Answer my question."

"I have a feeling," Quinn said very slowly as she looked between Gabriel, Carrigan and me. "That you already have the answer to your question. Who are you people?"

"My name is Carrigan Coleman—"

"—Carrigan," Gabriel warned. She ignored him though and continued to speak.

"This is my mother, Cadence Coleman and my step-father, Gabriel Quintin," Carrigan replied. Quinn stood up straight as her arms dropped uselessly to her side. She frowned deeply and glared at Carrigan, as if trying to determine if she was lying or not. "I'm sure you know who we are now."

Quinn's eyes turned away from Carrigan for a moment to glare at Gabriel who was standing to her side. I studied the expression for a few moments, curious as to why she was so interested in glaring at Gabriel.

"What are you looking for?" Carrigan questioned stepping forward.

Quinn turned her attention back to Carrigan with high eyebrows.

"My weapons," she said cruelly. Her amber eyes flashed to me. "Where are they?"

I snapped my fingers and Quinn's weapon and wand appeared in my hands. I threw them forward onto the ground in front of her feet. "Get off my property," I hissed. "If I find you on it again, I'll kill you myself."

Quinn smirked at me. She kept her eyes on Gabriel and I as she knelt down slowly to pick up her belongings. Silence fell around us as she put her wand in her boot and her foreign weapon under her cloak on her belt. Gabriel moved towards me, stepping behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder as if we were afraid I would chase Quinn out of the crater if she didn't move fast enough.

"It has been a pleasure," she said with a sweeping bow. Her long blonde hair twisted in the air and flipped back with a sharp flick, like a whip, when she stood up straight. Before another word could be said, she ran forward past Gabriel, Carrigan and I. With her running start, she was able to leap up the crater wall. Her hands grabbed the edge of the crater. With her upper body strength and help of her feet, she was able to climb out of the crater with ease. I was impressed by the action, but did not say so out loud.

"Do you know what she was looking for?" Gabriel whispered as he looked at the opposite side of the crater where Quinn had just disappeared.

"Her father," Carrigan replied instantly. "Her thoughts were easy to read. She wasn't blocking me at all."

Gabriel and I both looked at Carrigan with surprise. "Her father?" I repeated quizzically.

"Yes," Carrigan sighed as she ran her hands over her head.

I looked up at Gabriel with concern. He shrugged innocently, unable to ease my concern. "I'll run her name when I go into the Ministry tomorrow. See if anything pops up. I don't know what else we can do."

"I don't like that she was on our property—"

"I don't either, Cadence, but right now there isn't much to go on," he retorted. "Especially since you let her leave."

"What was I suppose to do?" I snipped back.

"Stop it," Carrigan snapped loudly. "Both of you."

I frowned deeply and looked to my daughter, who looked exhausted as if she had just been in a long physical fight. I touched her shoulder, as if to comfort her. "I'm sorry, darling," I whispered with apologetic eyes.

"Let's get you to the house," Gabriel said. "You're beat."

"Is Haiden still there?" Carrigan whispered with dark eyes.

"Yes," Gabriel replied. "She was beaten up pretty bad. I had to repair her skull, it was cracked, four of her ribs and her elbow was dislocated."

"Is that all?" Carrigan cracked. "Didn't put up much of a fight."

"You don't know what kind of a fight she put up, Carrigan. You weren't there," Gabriel's voice was stern and defensive. Carrigan glared at him as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I see," she whispered. She turned away from him with her arms crossed tightly over her chest. She began to walk away without another word. Gabriel sighed with exacerbation and rolled his eyes.

"What the bloody hell does that mean?" he questioned as he looked at me.

"That she isn't talking to you," I whispered as I walked by him. I tapped his chest with comfort before walking away.

"Mom, can you give me a boost?" Carrigan called as she looked up the crater wall. I smiled and shook my head. Carrigan was definitely not talking to Gabriel now. Gabriel muttered something behind me, but not loud enough for me to hear. I smirked slightly when I reached Carrigan before giving her a boost out of the crater. Gabriel was kind enough to help me up and out of the crater before climbing out himself. Carrigan led the way home, walking at least twenty feet in front of us, no doubt because she was mad at Gabriel for defending Haiden.

At the house, Benjamin and Haiden were sitting in the front room waiting for us to return. Benjamin immediately stood up when we entered the foyer. I was the last one to enter and closed the door tightly behind me. Gabriel removed his flannel shirt, revealing a black tee shirt, and without a word made his way to the kitchen. I was sure he was going to pour himself something strong to drink.

I looked at Haiden, who had remained sitting on the couch as we entered. She stared at the floor, looking dismal and damaged. Her arms were crossed her over torso and she was carefully stroking the bare flesh on her upper arm, as if to comfort herself. Despite Gabriel's work to heal her, she still looked pretty beaten up with cuts on her face and arms; the cuts were no doubt from when she fell or was thrown on the glass table in Benjamin's apartment.

"Carrigan," Benjamin said when he saw her. "I'm sorry."

Carrigan stood still, staring at him, waiting for him to continue. Benjamin however didn't say anything else, he stood up straight and awkwardly stared at Carrigan, expecting her to except his apology. Carrigan rolled her eyes when nothing else was said and moved out of the foyer down to the kitchen. Benjamin stepped after her.

"You're not going to say anything!?" he snapped. "You're such a child!"

I opened my eyes wide in surprise at the comment. Carrigan just ignored Benjamin and continued to the kitchen. I suppose it was possible that she was more upset with him than Gabriel.

"Benjamin," I whispered with a low sigh. He looked at me with aggressive crystal blue eyes. His body was tense with frustration. For a startling moment I thought he was going to throw his fist through my wall.

"No," he said quickly. "You don't get to defend her behavior. Not when she is being unreasonable."

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him viciously. "I _get to_ defend her behavior when ever I fell it deserves defending. You can't blame her for not trusting—"

"Hello Aunt Cadence," Haiden said coolly, interrupting me. I frowned, I was just about to say her name. I stood up straight and stepped forward to open the front door again.

"We need to talk."

Haiden looked at me with raised eyebrows. "Okay…"

"Both of you," I said as I looked between her and Benjamin crossly. "I need to talk to both of you."

Benjamin sighed as he crossed his muscular arms over his chest. He stepped forward to usher Haiden out onto the porch. I followed them out, closing the door tightly behind me to give us some privacy outside as the sun set. Haiden pulled her arm from Benjamin's grasp with annoyance then turned her mismatching blue and green eyes to me. She glared at me with impatience, before she could speak her mind though, I turned my attention to Benjamin.

"I don't know what is going on between you and Carrigan," I hissed. "But whatever it is you have to remember that you are the adult, Benjamin, not her. I know she can come off as mature for her age, but she is a fourteen year old girl who has been through numerous traumatic experiences right after the other. You don't get to call her childish because she is a child and she is going to act like it. You also can't blame her for not trusting Haiden, especially when she feels betrayed that Haiden left her to die." I turned to look at Haiden who had opened her mouth to speak. "I don't care what you did. Only you two were there and know what happened. I can't pass judgment on either of you. But I'm going to side with Carrigan because she is my daughter. End of story."

"She's not upset because I trust Haiden and she doesn't," Benjamin snapped loudly, his frustration obviously getting the best of him. "She's upset because Haiden and I have a relationship. She doesn't like the fact that we're friends. She's jealous and she's using what happened to cover up her emotions."

I stood up straight with surprise. Benjamin looked mildly embarrassed as he looked away from me. He turned and paced down to the end of the porch in silence. I didn't know what to say. Haiden folded her hands in front of her.

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Tell me how you ended up unconscious in Benjamin's flat," I said changing subjects easily.

"I've been staying there since I got out of the hospital," she said coolly. "I was mediating before dinner today and I had an episode. I haven't had one in a couple of weeks." She paused for a moment as she rolled her shoulders back and pushed her long wavy half of hair over her shoulder. "I had a vision that connected me to Voldemort. Within a moment of the vision being complete, a Death Eater Apparated into the flat. Somehow, while I was connected to Voldemort, he figured out where I was and sent someone to come after me."

"Why didn't the Death Eater kill you?"

"I killed him first," Haiden said matter-of-factly.

I nodded my head slowly. "What did you see?"

Haiden hesitated for a moment as she crossed her arms over her chest. I could see in her eyes that she was debating if she should be honest with me.

"Haiden?"

She frowned and exhaled with exacerbation. "I saw Voldemort kill you and Gabriel." Her voice was a little uneven as she spoke, as if she was truly uncomfortable and scared of the idea that Voldemort would kill me or Gabriel.

The color left my cheeks and my heart stopped for a moment. I recovered quickly, however and stood up straight with a complacent expression on my face.

"Aunt Cadence?"

I blinked and looked back at Haiden with heavy, tired eyes. "Yes?"

"There is something else," she said slowly. She glanced down the hall towards the kitchen. "There was another woman there. A skinny blonde haired woman."

"What about her?" I asked as visions of Quinn, the blonde I just met, flashed in my mind.

"She died," Haiden said quietly. "Voldemort killed her first. Gabriel lost it and went after him. You died trying to stop him…I've never seen Gabriel loose it like that, not even when it comes to protecting you."

I ran my hand through my hair. Her statement puzzled me. Why would Gabriel lose control of his emotions over a blonde being killed by Voldemort? Especially if the blonde in Haiden's vision was in fact Quinn, the woman who had been trolling in my field?

"Any idea when this happens?" I asked carefully.

"No," Haiden shook her head. "And the longer I'm awake the more fuzzy it all gets."

"Alright," I nodded. "Thank you." I turned to go back into the house and paused for a moment. "Do you have some place to go?"

"No," Haiden whispered as she crossed her arms again. Her perfect lips turned to a frown which caused my stomach to tie up in knots.

"Why aren't you going back to Hogwarts?"

"There isn't a reason," Haiden shrugged. "I'm legally an adult witch, I have been for sometime. I don't look like a teenager anymore…I'm just tired of lying about who I am. It's time to be an adult now. And frankly, the Jaspers will know to look for me at Hogwarts."

"I have somewhere she can stay," Benjamin said coming forward on the porch. He seemed to have recovered from his embarrassing outburst. I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"You do?"

"I have another flat in south London," he replied. "Under a fake name."

"How many of these places do you have?"

"Three counting the one that has been found. Dumbledore asked me to set up extra safe houses, just in case."

"Alright. Then you two will go there tonight?"

Benjamin hesitated. "Yes, I suppose. I'll come tomorrow to see Carrigan off…if she'll have me."

"That's between you two," I said with a shrug as I reached for the door.

"Aunt Cadence," Haiden called quickly. I paused to look at her over my shoulder. "Thank you for helping me."

"It was mostly Benjamin and Gabriel who helped you," I replied. "But you're welcome."

As I walked into the house I heard Haiden say to Benjamin, "I'll wait here. Go talk to Carrigan."

"Just be in a minute," he replied.

He followed me into the house, closing the door behind him. We made our way back into the kitchen where Gabriel and Carrigan were standing, leaning against the counters. Both had their arms crossed over their chest and looked frustrated.

"Am I interrupting?"

"No," Carrigan said quickly. "We're finished." She pivoted away from Gabriel. "I have to go pack."

"Carri, may I have a word?" Benjamin asked as she approached him.

"Depends," she replied as she looked up at him with burning navy blue eyes. "Are you going to call me a child when I state my opinion?"

"Depends how you state it," Benjamin said honestly. Carrigan glared at him still, but was silent, debating if she should give him the opportunity to talk. She placed her hands on her hips, then began to speak sharply.

"You're an ass. And a bloody fool to trust her—"

"That is your opinion," he said softly.

Carrigan continued to rant as if he hadn't spoken. "I can't believe you would trust her over me—that you would take her side over mine when you're my Guardian! You're supposed to be loyal to me, Benjamin, and have my back, no matter what—"

"I am loyal to you, Carrigan," he interrupted with a fierce tone. She stood back and bit her lip as he spoke quickly. "I am loyal to you and you alone. You are the only thing that matters to me—" He glanced at Gabriel and I standing a few feet away, before looking back at Carrigan. "—and you always will. You don't have to be jealous of Haiden. What you have to understand is that I feel I owe something to her. My mother, along with others, took her childhood away and destroyed her. My mother's experiments are the reason that Haiden is sick and has multiple personalities. _My mother_ did that too her. She was supposed to be her Guardian and she abused Haiden and the relationship that they were supposed to have. I owe it to Haiden to at least be her friend because thanks to my mother she has no one. No one trust her. No one wants her. I owe it to her to make up for my mother—"

Carrigan stepped forward and put her hand to Benjamin's lips. "Enough," she whispered close to him. "I understand. I'm sorry."

They embraced tightly and quickly. Benjamin rested his chin on Carrigan's head as she clung to him, running her hands up and down his back to comfort him. He kissed her forehead and stepped back, tilting her chin to look her in the eye. I smirked and turned away. Gabriel was standing up straight with a hard expression on his face. I grabbed hold of his hand and dragged him from the kitchen into the dinning room to give Benjamin and Carrigan some privacy.

As we walked out of the kitchen, I heard Carrigan comforting Benjamin. "This is not your burden. You do not owe anything to her..."

Before Gabriel could speak I put my hand to his lips, much like Carrigan had done to Benjamin. "Let it be," I whispered with a smile. Gabriel rolled his eyes but kissed my fingertips delicately.

"Did you two make up?"

"Not exactly," he replied. "She's more stubborn than you and isn't willing to change her perspective."

I sighed. "She just wants you on her side."

"I am on her side," Gabriel insisted. "I am also on Haiden's, just like Benjamin is. She's forgiven him, why can't she forgive me?"

"Because you're her stepfather and he is her Guardian—"

"—he's more than her Guardian. He's about to destroy their relationship and cross a line—"

"The same line you crossed, Gabriel?" I asked crossly. Gabriel stood up straight as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"She's my little girl, Cadence," he said.

I beamed. To hear Gabriel refer to Carrigan as his own daughter made my heart skip a beat. "Always protect her like she is, but know where the line is, Gabriel. She is allowed to have relationships."

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Would you say the same thing if our son had survived and it was him hugging on a girl in the kitchen?"

"Of course," I smiled as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He kissed me slowly.

"Where is Haiden?"

"Benjamin is taking her to one of his safe houses."

"He has safe houses?"

"Dumbledore asked him to set some up," I shrugged. "He said he would come with us to King's Cross tomorrow."

"Do you think she'll be safe?"

"Haiden?" I asked. "I think she'll be as safe as we are now that Voldemort is after her."

Gabriel nodded his head with a sad expression. "I'll speak to Dumbledore about what we can do to help her…see what he thinks about trusting her as well."

"Alright," I whispered as Haiden's vision twisted in my mind. I bit my bottom lip as I debated if I should tell Gabriel about the mysterious blonde haired woman in the vision, and the fact that she had foreseen our deaths.

"I'm going to go do that now."

I frowned as I looked up at him. "Alright. I'm going to help Carrigan pack for school. You'll be late?"

"Shouldn't be too late," Gabriel said as he stroked his cheek. "I love you, Cadence."

I smiled at him and stood on my toes to kiss his tempting lips. "I love you too, Gabriel. Be safe, please."

"Always am," he stole a kiss from my lips before he moved out of the dinning room, purposely going through the kitchen in hopes to interrupt Benjamin and Carrigan.

"Gabriel," I called as I followed him into the kitchen. Both Benjamin and Carrigan were gone from sight. No doubt, Benjamin had left with Haiden and Carrigan had gone upstairs to start packing for school.

Gabriel looked at me with high eyebrows, questioning why I had called him back. "Ask Dumbledore about Quinn. See what he knows about her too."

Gabriel nodded, but said nothing. I gave him a weak smile in thanks before he continued out of the kitchen. I ran my hands through my hair as a soft sigh escaped my lips.

I felt exhausted, mentally, emotionally and physically. I was tried of living in fear of pending death—and I was tried of not being able to trust those around me. I bit my bottom lip with apprehension the more I thought about the evening's events. What if the attack on Haiden was all an act, just so that she could get into the house and feed me that vision? What if it was all a lie and she was setting me up just like Penelope Talon had?

"Mom!" called Carrigan from upstairs. "Can you help me, please?"

"Yea!" I yelled back as I blinked. "I'm coming."

My worries about Haiden, her stories and Juniper Quinn Tullius were going to have to wait until tomorrow, at that moment I had to focus on getting Carrigan set for Hogwarts.


End file.
